Removal of indigo carmine from an aqueous solution by fungus Pleurotus Ostreatus

The role of fungi in the treatment of wastewater has been extensively researched. Many genera of fungi have been employed for the dye decolourization either in living or dead form. In this study, the removal of an acidic dye, Indigo Carmine (IC), from an aqueous solution by biosorption on dead fungus, Pleurotus ostreatus, was investigated. The effects of contact time, initial dye concentration, amount of dead biomass, agitation rate and initial pH on dye removal have been determined. Experimental results show that an increase in the amount of dead biomass positively affected the dye removal. The highest removal was obtained at 150–200 rpm. Slightly lower removing activities were found at lower agitation rates. The dye adsorption effi ciency was not affected by pH except minor variation in the pH of 2–8. Color removal was observed to occur rapidly within 60 minutes. The removal of dye by dead biomass of P. ostreatus was clearly dependent on the initial dye concentration of the solution. Dye removal was reduced from 93% to 64% as concentration was increased from 50 to 500 mg/L Indigo Carmine. This study showed that it was possible to remove textile dyes by dead biomass of P. ostreatus.