DECOLOURIZATION OF PAPER MILL EFFLUENT BY IMMOBILIZED CELLS OF Phanerochaete chrysosporium

Paper and pulp industrial waste waters are a major environmental concern. As the treatment of these effluents is a major problem, exploring novel and feasible biotechnological interventions is very important. Utilization of white rot fungi as a means of biological treatment seems to be a viable option. The study was undertaken to use immobilization technique and Phanerochaete chrysosporium, a commonly used white rot fungus for decolourization. The optimum conditions under which significant decolourization observed were temperature (30-35 C), agitation (125rpm), sucrose (0.25 – 1.0%), ammonium chloride (0.25 – 1.0%), pH and duration 24-96 hrs. The addition of 1g/ L sucrose and 1g/L ammonium chloride has significant effect on the degradation of lignin by the whiterot fungi as immobilized cells. Reduction of lignin, phenol, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) from paper mill effluents using different concentration of carbon and nitrogen (0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.0 %) was investigated. Maximum decolourization of 83% was achieved when 1% sucrose and 1% ammonium chloride was added the effluent containing immobilized cells of P. chrysosporium. Significant reduction in BOD, and COD of the effluent was observed in the presence of P. chrysosporium respectively. A pH shift of 7.0 to 6.3 had the significant effect (83%) on biological decolourization process.