Biological treatment of Azo dyes and textile industry effluent by newly isolated White rot fungi Schizophyllum commune and Lenzites eximia

Lignin degrading white rot fungi, Schizophyllum commune and Lenzites eximia were collected from the living tree of Tramarindus indica and burnt tree respectively from the Western Ghats region of Tamil Nadu, India. The fungi were used for the decolourization of azo dyes such as congored, methylorange, erichrome blackT and also for decolourization of the dye industry effluents. Removal of azo dyes from aqueous solution by Schizophyllum commune (50 μm) concentration showed 96.86% of colour removal in congored, 97.57% in methylorange and 97.40% in erichrome black-T on fourth day respectively. Lenzites eximia decolourised congo red by 95.50%, methylorange by 94.79% and erichrome black-T by 95.36% at (50 μm) concentration respectively on fourth day. Removal of textile dye effluent in batch mode showed 76.15% decolourisation and in continuous mode 55.92% on 5 th day by Schizophyllum commune. In Lenzites eximia 75.23% and 54.60% of decolourization was observed in batch and continuous mode respectively on 5 th day. From the results, it was interpreted that the colour removal by the basidiomycetes fungi were mainly due to adsorption of the dyes to the mycelial surface and also due to metabolic breakdown. The results suggested that Schizophyllum commune is more efficient than Lenzites eximia for the treatment of azo dyes and textile dye industry effluent in both batch mode and continuous mode.