Remediation of textile dye waste water using a white-rot fungus Bjerkandera adusta through solid-state fermentation (SSF).

A strict screening strategy for microorganism selection was followed employing a number of white-rot fungi for the bioremediation of textile effluent, which was generated from one Ireland-based American textile industry. Finally, one fungus Bjerkandera adusta has been investigated in depth for its ability to simultaneously degrade and enrich the nutritional quality of highly coloured textile effluent-adsorbed barley husks through solid-state fermentation (SSF). Certain important parameters such as media requirements, moisture content, protein/biomass production and enzyme activities were examined in detail. A previously optimised method of dye desorption was employed to measure the extent of dye remediation through effluent decolorisation achieved as a result of fungal activity in SSF. B. adusta was capable of decolourising a considerable concentration of the synthetic dye effluent (up to 53%) with a moisture content of 80-85%. Protein enrichment of the fermented mass was achieved to the extent of 229 g/kg dry weight initial substrate used. Lignin peroxidase and laccase were found to be the two main enzymes produced during SSF of the dye-adsorbed lignocellulosic waste residue.