Accelerated Biodecolorization of Reactive Dyes with Added Nitrogen and Carbon Sources

Synthetic dyes being xenobiotics and recalcitrant in nature are under high consideration for environmental chemists. They are resistant to be decomposed by conventional treatment technologies. So recently biodegradation has been accepted as an efficient and attractive approach to decompose these complex molecules. The aim of present research work is directed as finding the effect of added nutrient sources both for carbon and nitrogen on decolorization of two commonly used reactive azo dye: Reactive Black B and Reactive Orange 16. The results clearly showed that additional nutrient sources are effective in increasing dye decolorization rate only at lower levels i.e., 2 mgmL-1. At higher levels they decrease color removal upto 50%. Moreover color removal extent is greatly affected by type of microbial consortia and chemical structure of dye. © 2010 Friends Science Publishers