Isolation and Development of Efficient Bacterial Consortia for Bioremediation of Textile Dye Effluent

Textile industries are the largest consumers of water and chemicals for wet processes of textile like dyeing, hence must generate high doses of effluent rich in the chemicals, which are highly toxic to the environmental components. Most synthetic dyes like azo-dyes, including reactive, acid, direct dyes and vat dyes, commonly used in the textile industry, paper printing, color photography, pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic and leather industries, are toxic, carcinogenic and highly resistant to degradation due to their complex chemical structures . Effluents from the textile industries are highly colored containing dyes that vary from 2% for basic dyes to as high as 50% for reactive dyes, leading to severe contamination of surface and ground waters in the vicinity of dyeing industries .

In general, the wastewater from a typical cotton textile industry is characterized by high values of Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), color, and pH . Because of high BOD and color, the untreated dye effluents reduce dissolved oxygen content and light penetration respectively, in receiving water bodies and without suitable treatment, such wastewater would destroy the natural water environment . The dye effluents also contain heavy metals that can cause several health problems. Lead for instance, can interfere with enzyme activities and function of red blood cells. It can affect nerves and brain at low concentration . Heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium and chromium can bio accumulate and through the food chain to toxic levels in man. Different methods are available for the remediation of dye wastewaters. Read more...........