African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12501

Full Length Research Paper

Response surface methodology for optimization of the treatment of textile wastewater by a novel bacterial consortium: Enzymes and metabolites characterization

Lamia Ayed1*#, Imen Ksibi2#, Abdelkarim Cheref3 and Amina Bakhrouf1
1Laboratoire d’Analyse, Traitement et Valorisation des Polluants de l’Environnement et des Produits, Faculté de Pharmacie, Rue Avicenne, 5000 Monastir, Tunisie. 2Unité de Recherche Chimie Appliqué et Environnement. Faculté de Science. Avenue de l'environnement 5019 Monastir–Tunisie. 3Laboratoire de Géochimie et Physicochimie de l’Eau, CERTE, Technopole Borj Cedria 2073 Nabeul, Tunisie.
Email: [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 07 May 2012
  •  Published: 31 July 2012

Abstract

Textile wastewater (TWW) causes many environmental problems, and colored substances must be removed from it before their discharge into the environment. An optimization process was analyzed using custom response surface methodology (RSM). In the present study, the effect of different combinations of eight strains was studied using equilateral triangle diagram (Minitab 14.0) and mixture experimental design to assess color and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal during the growth of species. Under optimal conditions, the bacterial consortium developed was able to decolorize completely (>84%) the dye within 72 h. The color and COD removal were 89.97 and 84.71%, respectively. A significant increase in azoreductase, lignin peroxidase and laccase activities in the cells were obtained after complete decolorization. Ultraviolet (UV)–vis and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy analysis confirmed the biodegradability of the TWW by the developed bacterial consortium.

 

Key words: Biodegradation, decolorization, textile wastewater, response surface methodology, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), UV–visible.