Combination System for the Removal of Reactive Black 5 by Bhargava Arpit, Vaidehi Bhatt and Ketaki Chaudhari

Abstract : The control of pollution has been a major concern in recent times. Textile dyes which are important organic compounds are also significant industrial pollutants and xenobiotic in nature i.e. they are not degraded easily by biological systems. In the present work we take into consideration certain processes which include physical, chemical and biological method for treatment of artificial textile waste water for removal of RB5 and propose an efficient, cost effective technology for remediation of RB5 present in textile effluent. The proposed alternative comprises of processes like adsorption, chemical oxidation and biological treatment. In case of individual process, the adsorption based treatment of RB5 showed 58% and 30% removal of dye at initial dye concentration of 100 mg/L and 250 mg/L respectively. Fenton treatment of RB5 resulted in 95% decolorization at initial dye concentration of 200mg/L. In case of biological treatment the decolorization efficiency of 56.7% was obtained using isolate B2A at initial dye concentration of 75 mg/L. The combination system involved the use of untreated sugarcane bagasse for adsorption of RB5 followed by treatment with Fenton reagent for chemical oxidation of dye. The residual dye was then decolorized with suitable microorganisms. Dye adsorbed bagasse which is a byproduct of proposed combination system was subjected to solid state fermentation with an aim for its potential use as soil conditioner. Although the removal efficiency of individual process reduced when studies were performed in combination system, the total efficiency increased to 93% decolorization in combination system.