Degradation of Reactive Blue by the mixed culture of Aspergillus versicolor and Rhizopus arrhizus in membrane bioreactor (MBR) system

The main purpose of this study was to investigate reactive dye removal capability of mixed fungal biomasses (Rhizopus arrhizus and Aspergillus versicolor) under non-sterile conditions with the inherent advantages of the submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) system. Decolorization of Reactive Blue in synthetic textile wastewater by mixed filamentous fungi was carried out in the Erlenmeyer flasks (sterile conditions) and MBR system (non-sterile conditions). The Lab/Pilot Scale MBR system had a working volume of 170 L and was equipped with a coarse and fine air bubble creation mechanism for membrane and biological aeration, respectively. The dye and chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration values were measured daily in influent as well as effluent to evaluate the removal efficiencies. Most of the analytical techniques used in this study were mentioned in the standard methods. The removal efficiency of color and COD were 90.71 and 90% in the MBR system, respectively. Using mixed fungal strains in the MBR system is a feasible technique to remove reactive dyes from the textile wastewater. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing the application of mixed filamentous fungal strains in the pilot scale (MBR) system.