Development of fungal consortium for the biodecolorization of textile effluent

Abstract

In the current five fungal species (Aspergillus sp., and Penicillium sp.) screened from 5 fungal isolates respectively, were used in  different combinations for the biotreatment of textile waste water collected from Sanagner, Jaipur, Rajasthan districts under optimized conditions. The chemical oxygen demand (COD), total solids (TS) total dissolved solids (TDS) & total suspended solids (TSS), hardness, and color intensity of the textile effluent was found to be very high than the permissible limits before treatment. After treatment one particular combination was capable of reducing the COD of the effluent sample by 75%. About five combinations of microbes efficiently reduced the color of the effluent by more than 50%. Another combination was found to be the most effective in the reduction of TS and TDS by 90% and 69%, respectively. Though there was no drastic change in the pH of the sample, it was not of great concern as the pH of the sample was well within the permissible limits for the discharge of the wastewater in to natural sources after treatment.