Removal of Color, Phenol and Sulfide from Batik Wastewater using Immobilized Bacillus licheniformis in Bentonite Mineral

Abstract

Batik is one of Indonesia’s original cultural heritages. In Indonesia, the batik industry is the largest home-based textile industry. This industry consumes a large amount of water. Due to the unavailability of a wastewater treatment plant, most batik producers dispose of the wastewater directly into the river, resulting in extensive water pollution. Some pollutants, such as color, phenol, and sulfide, have the potential to pollute the environment. Wastewater treatment is needed to improve water quality and meet the specific safety requirements of wastewater after treatment. Among physical and chemical methods, biological treatment has advantages such as being more economical and environmentally friendly. In this study, biological treatment using immobilized Bacillus lincheniformis on bentonite mineral was investigated. The concentration of color, phenol, and sulfide in mini wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) was measured before (influent) and after treatment (effluent) as daily parameter. The results showed that the highest phenol removal efficiency value reached 100%, and the overall concentration of effluent met the Indonesian quality standard. However, some sulfide concentrations in the effluent did not meet the quality standard, even though the highest removal efficiency value reached 93%. The value of color decolorization efficiency was reached at 68%. Those results indicate that consortium immobilized Bacillus lincheniformis on bentonite minerals and microorganisms from batik waste can be used as a promising method to treat batik wastewater.