Biodecolorization of acid violet 19 by Alternaria solani

Abstract

Microorganisms are the nature’s tools for cleaning the environment. Bioremediation using bacteria, fungi and algae is becoming an attractive option for the treatment of industrial effluents containing a
wide spectrum of pollutants including dyes and heavy metal ions. In the current research work, the potential of a deuteromycete fungus, Alternaria solani for the removal of a dye, Acid Violet 19 from aqueous solution was studied. The fungus showed promising potential for the decolorization of the dye (88.6%) at a dye concentration of 30 mg/L within a relatively short period of time (four days). But with increase in the contact time, the % decolorization decreased showing that some of the adsorbed dye was desorbed especially in case of higher dye concentrations. The desorption of the dye from the fungal cells at long contact time and higher dye concentrations was considered to be due to higher molecular mass, structural complexity and the presence of inhibitory groups, SO3Na in the dye.