African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 6 (12), pp. 1441-1445, 18 June 2007   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2007 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Biodecolorization and biodegradation of Reactive Blue by Aspergillus sp.

Mohandass Ramya^{1 *}, Bhaskar Anusha², S. Kalavathy¹, and S. Devilaksmi¹

¹Biotechnology Department, Bishop Heber College, Tiruchirapalli, Tamilnadu, India.

²Environmental Science Department, Bishop Heber College, Tiruchirapalli, Tamilnadu, India.

*Corresponding author.  E-mail: ramya.mohandass@gmail.com.  Phone: +91 4312770 136 Extn 404, 405. Mobile: +919442044277. Fax: +91 431 27700293.

Accepted 15 June, 2007

Aspergillus sp. effectively decolorized Reactive Blue and other structurally different synthetic dyes. Agitation was found to be an important parameter, while glucose (99%),  sucrose (97%) and mannitol (98%) were the best carbon sources for the decolorization. Decolorization was effective in an acidic environment (pH 3). Few chemically different dyes such as Reactive Black (75%), Reactive Yellow (70%), Reactive Red (33%) and Coloron Violet (66%) were decolorized moderately.The dye Coloron Black (9%) was highly resistant for decolorization by Aspergillus sp. Both spectral analysis and HPLC analysis were confirmatory to degradation.

Key words: Decolorization, degradation, HPLC, Reactive Blue, Aspergillus sp.