Increased removal of Reactive Blue 72 and 13 acidic textile dyes by Penicillium ochrochloron fungus isolated from acidic mine drainage

Abstract

In this study, acidic textile dyes, including Reactive Blue 13 and Reactive Blue 72, were adsorbed by Penicillium ochrochloron AMDB-12 isolated from acidic mine drainage. Optimal conditions in terms of pH, initial dye concentration, agitation rate, biomass dosage, contact time, and temperature for this process were determined. Biosorption yields for RB13 and RB72 were 55 and 61%, respectively, under determined optimum conditions. These conditions were determined to be a contact time of 120 min, pH 2, an agitation speed of 150 rpm, and an initial dye concentration of 50 ppm for both dyes, while biosorbent dosages were 1 and 2 g L−1 for RB72 and RB13, respectively. The biosorption of all dyes was endothermic in nature. The biosorbent was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy before and after dye biosorption. The Langmuir model was found most suitable for describing the biosorption of all dyestuffs. The experimental data fit very well with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model.