Maulin P Shah^1,, Kavita A Patel¹

Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Decolorization removal efficiency of consortia of alkalophilic microorganisms was evaluated in a continuous anaerobic/aerobic reactor system. The biodegradation products of Reactive Red in the continuous anaerobic/aerobic reactor were studied by employing different analytical tools such as Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). When the synthetic dye wastewater was subjected to a two stage reactor, a 96.0% color removal of Reactive Red was attained after the anaerobic treatment. However, after the aerobic treatment, overall decolorization efficiency was 100% as compared to the anaerobic stage. On the other hand, the removal efficiency of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) was greater after the aerobic treatment (66.6%) than the anaerobic treatment (94.26%). The band of the Thin Layer Chromatography shows fragments of dye decolorization products. On the other hand, the HPLC Chromatograms show that the dye decolorization products that are produced at the anaerobic stage were degraded. From HPLC chromatograms, three new peaks were obtained and one of it was degraded completely and the retention time and peak areas of the other two peaks was decreased. From the consortia, dye decolorizing microorganisms were isolated and tested for their decolorization efficiency in batch test. The isolates from the anaerobic/aerobic reactor were inoculated into a sterilized decolorized media with the addition of glucose as a carbon source to a final concentration of 0.1% and the isolates were incubated under aerobic condition. After 12 h the isolates growth (OD) was measured and all the isolates tested were able to grow using metabolites of the decolorized media as a sole nitrogen source.

biodegradation, Reactive Red 195, dye biodegradation products, alkalophilic microorganisms