Decolorization of azo and anthraquinone dyes by fungi

摘要

Fungi are excellent candidates for employment in the bioremediation of coloured effluents through both the degradation of dyes and their removal by absorption onto the mycelium. This screening study has shown that numerous basidiomycete species, many of them never described in the literature, are very effective degraders of azo and anthraquinone dyes. Analysis of two of the more promising isolates, a Cyathus stercoreus strain and an unidentified basidiomycete, illustrated their efficient and fast decolorising potential and suggested that an independent manganese peroxidase was involved in degradation by the basidiomycete. Parallel investigation of an Aspergillus showed that it was capable of removing 98% of an azo dye by biosorption in a few days.