BIOREMEDIATION OF TEXTILE WASTEWATER USING Pleurotus pulmonarius

Abstract

The textile industry is a major polluter as it generates a high amount of wastewater on a daily basis. Conventional methods used to treat textile wastewater usually require a lot of energy and costs. Therefore, bioremediation using white rot fungi (Pleurotus pulmonarius) has been proposed because it produces lignin modifying enzymes, such as laccase, lignin peroxidase and manganese peroxidase, which breaks down pollutants in the wastewater. In this study, Pleurotus pulmonarius is used to treat dyes and selected heavy metals in textile wastewater obtained from a laboratory of a local university. The treatment used shake flask fermentation at a pH of 3, agitation speed of 120 rpm and temperature of 40°C to decolourise the dyes and reduce the heavy metal content. P. pulmonarius showed promising results with a maximum of 59.45% of dyes being decolourised after 144 hours. Furthermore, the level of heavy metals, as determined through Inductive Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry, is reduced to 34.54%, 76.82%, 38.17% and 41.94% for copper, iron, manganese and zinc, respectively, after 144 hours of incubation. However, the biochemical oxygen demand of the wastewater increased with treatment, and the fungi cells are not viable anymore after 72 hours of incubation. With further optimisation, P. pulmonarius seems to be a promising bioremediating agent for treatment of textile wastewater.