Decolorizing reactive textile dyes with white-rot fungi by temporary immersion cultivation

The decontamination of effluents from textile industries is problematic due to the fact that textile dyes are resistant to degradation in the environment. Enzymes from white rot fungi, especially laccase, are able to degrade various complex aromatic structures, and are therefore able to decolorize textile dyes. The white-rot fungi Trametes versicolor and Phanerochaete chrysosporium were immobilized, separately, on both pine wood chips and palm oil fiber, and cultivated in the temporary immersion RITA (R) (Recipient a Immersion Temporaire Automatique) System, which was adapted to serve as a fungal bioreactor in a series of four experiments to determine optimal conditions for decolorizing the textile dyes Levafix Blue and Remazol Brilliant Red. The maximum rate of decolorization of both dyes occurred within 24 h of incubation, and laccase was detected in the system.