The increasing use of silver (Ag) nanoparticles [containing either elemental Ag (Ag-NPs) or AgCl (AgCl-NPs)] in commercial products such as textiles will most likely result in these materials reaching wastewater treatment plants. Previous studies indicate that a conversion of Ag-NPs to Ag2S is to be expected during wastewater transport/treatment. However, the influence of surface functionality, the nature of the core structure and the effect of post-processing on Ag speciation in sewage sludge/biosolids has not been investigated. This study aims at closing these knowledge gaps using bench scale anaerobic digesters spiked with Ag nitrate, three different types of Ag-NPs, and AgCl-NPs at environmentally realistic concentrations. The results indicate that neither surface functionality nor the different compositions of the NP prevented the formation of Ag2S. Silver sulfides, unlike the sulfides of other metals present in sewage sludge, were stable over a six month period simulating composting/stockpiling.

Textile industries use large amounts of water in dyeing processes and a wide variety of synthetic dyes. A small concentration of these dyes in the environment can generate highly visible pollution and changes in aquatic ecosystems. Adsorption, biosorption, and biodegradation are the most advantageous dye removal processes. Biodegradation occurs when enzymes produced by certain microorganisms are capable of breaking down the dye molecule. To increase the efficiency of these processes, cell immobilization enables the reuse of the immobilized cells and offers a high degree of mechanical strength, allowing metabolic processes to take place under adverse conditions. The aim of the present study was to investigate the use of Saccharomyces cerevisiae immobilized in activated sugarcane bagasse for the degradation of Acid Black 48 dye in aqueous solutions. For such, sugarcane bagasse was treated with polyethyleneimine (PEI). Concentrations of a 1 % S. cerevisiae suspension were evaluated to determine cell immobilization rates. Once immobilization was established, biodegradation assays for 240 h with free and immobilized yeast in PEI-treated sugarcane bagasse were evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry. The results indicated a probable change in the dye molecule and the possible formation of new metabolites. Thus, S. cerevisiae immobilized in sugarcane bagasse is very attractive for biodegradation processes in the treatment of textile effluents. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

Adsorption potentials of native and amine-modified plant biomass of Alyssum caricum for the removal of Reactive Green 19 (RG-19) and Reactive Red 2 (RR-2) dyes from aqueous solutions were studied. The adsorbents were characterized before and after modification process using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and potentiometric titration analysis. Modification of the surface of A. caricum biomass with hexamethylenediamine (HMDA) showed an increase of 1.18-fold in its surface area. Batch studies illustrated that dye adsorption were highly dependent on different process variables, pH, initial dye concentration of solution, adsorbent dosage, and temperature. The maximum adsorption capacities of the native and amine-modified adsorbents were 27.6 and 63.4 mg/g adsorbent for RG-19 dye and 16.5 and 36.8 mg/g adsorbent for RR-2 dye, respectively. The adsorption of both dyes on the native and amine-modified plant biomass correlated well with the Langmuir and Temkin isotherm equations as compared to Freundlich and D-R equations. The calculated thermodynamic parameters for both native and amine-modified adsorbents showed that the adsorption was feasible, spontaneous, and exothermic. The information gained from these studies was expected to indicate whether native and amine-modified adsorbents can have potential to be used for the removal of other dyes from wastewaters. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

Chemical reagents used by the textile industry are very diverse in their composition, ranging from inorganic compounds to polymeric compounds. Strong color is the most notable characteristic of textile effluents, and a large number of processes have been employed for color removal. In recent years, attention has been directed toward various natural solid materials that are able to remove pollutants from contaminated water at low cost, such as sugarcane bagasse. Cell immobilization has emerged as an alternative that offers many advantages in the biodegradation process, including the reuse of immobilized cells and high mechanical strength, which enables metabolic processes to occur under adverse conditions of pH, sterility, and agitation. Support treatment also increases the number of charges on the surface, thereby facilitating cell immobilization processes through adsorption and ionic bonds. Polyethyleneimine (PEI) is a polycationic compound known to have a positive effect on enzyme activity and stability. The aim of the present study was to investigate a low-cost alternative for the biodegradation and bioremediation of textile dyes, analyzing Saccharomyces cerevisiae immobilization in activated bagasse for the promotion of Acid Black 48 dye biodegradation in an aqueous solution. A 1 % concentration of a S. cerevisiae suspension was evaluated to determine cell immobilization rates. Once immobilization was established, biodegradation assays with free and immobilized yeast in PEI-treated sugarcane bagasse were evaluated for 240 h using UV–vis spectrophotometry. The analysis revealed significant relative absorbance values, indicating the occurrence of biodegradation in both treatments. Therefore, S. cerevisiae immobilized in sugarcane bagasse is very attractive for use in biodegradation processes for the treatment of textile effluents.

Textile dye Victoria Blue-B (VB-B) was approached in two different ways: one to get rid of the color for its easy disposal to the environment, and the other is to reuse the decolorized water for coloring the same dye. Shewanella decolorationis (MBTD16) isolated from Dona Paula Bay, identified by 16S rRNA gene and its action over decolorization was monitored by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV–Vis spectrum, and a color scanner. Dye removal index increased L*, a*, and b* to 91.585, −2.856, and −0.132 against 62.29, −4.93, and −20.75 within 42 h as a first report. A maximum extent of decolorization (94.83 %) could be achieved with minimum dye concentration of 50 mg L⁻¹. The colored water treated by free and immobilized bacterial cells tested to reuse (VB-B dye) could give 35–50 % more color than the original. Process parameters optimized to achieve maximum decolorization indicated pH 7, temperature 32 ± 2 °C, inoculum size 8 % with co-substrates of glucose and yeast extract 5 g L⁻¹ for its supremacy. Synthesis of lignin peroxidase and tyrosinase augmented in strain S. decolorationis only after being exposed into the dye signifies the enzymes in decolorization, and it was confirmed through one-way ANOVA. Results obtain by this work could suggest that S. decolorationis can be used very well to decolorize the textile dye, and the same water could be recycled to get back its original color by adding around half the quantity of dye. Thus, by the use of water, dye and pollution levels could be minimized.

Bioremediation of textile dyestuffs under solid-state fermentation (SSF) using industrial wastes as substrate pose an economically feasible, promising, and eco-friendly alternative. The purpose of this study was to adsorb Red M5B dye, a sample of dyes mixture and a real textile effluent on distillery industry waste-yeast biomass (DIW-YB) and its further bioremediation using Bacillus cereus EBT1 under SSF. Textile dyestuffs were allowed to adsorb on DIW-YB. DIW-YB adsorbed dyestuffs were decolorized under SSF by using B. cereus. Enzyme analysis was carried out to ensure decolorization of Red M5B. Metabolites after dye degradation were analyzed using UV–Vis spectroscopy, FTIR, HPLC, and GC-MS. DIW-YB showed adsorption of Red M5B, dyes mixture and a textile wastewater sample up to 87, 70, and 81 %, respectively. DIW-YB adsorbed Red M5B was decolorized up to 98 % by B. cereus in 36 h. Whereas B. cereus could effectively reduce American Dye Manufacture Institute value from DIW-YB adsorbed mixture of textile dyes and textile wastewater up to 70 and 100 %, respectively. Induction of extracellular enzymes such as laccase and azoreductase suggests their involvement in dye degradation. Repeated utilization of DIW-YB showed consistent adsorption and ADMI removal from textile wastewater up to seven cycles. HPLC and FTIR analysis confirms the biodegradation of Red M5B. GC-MS analysis revealed the formation of new metabolites. B. cereus has potential to bioremediate adsorbed textile dyestuffs on DIW-YB. B. cereus along with DIW-YB showed enhanced decolorization performance in tray bioreactor which suggests its potential for large-scale treatment procedures.

With the use of cost-effective natural materials, biosorption is considered as an ecological tool that is applied worldwide for the remediation of pollution. In this study, we proposed Lemna gibba biomass (LGB), a lignocellulosic sorbent material, for the removal of two textile dyes, Direct Red 89 (DR-89) and Reactive Green 12 (RG-12). These azo dyes commonly used in dying operations of natural and synthetic fibres are the most important pollutants produced in textile industry effluents. For this purpose, batch biosorption experiments were carried out to assess the efficacy of LGB on dye treatment by evaluating the effect of contact time, biomass dosage, and initial dye concentration. The results indicated that the bioremoval efficiency of 5 mg L⁻¹ DR-89 and RG-12 reached approximately 100 % after 20 min of the exposure time; however, the maximum biosorption of 50 mg L⁻¹ DR-89 and 15 mg L⁻¹ RG-12 was determined to be about 60 and 47 %, respectively. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy used to explain the sorption mechanism showed that the functional groups of carboxylic acid and hydroxyl played a major role in the retention of these pollutants on the biomass surface. The modelling results using Freundlich, Langmuir, Temkin, Elovich, and Dubini Radushkevich (D-R) isotherms demonstrated that the DR-89 biosorption process was better described with the Langmuir theory (R ² = 0.992) while the RG-12 biosorption process fitted well by the D-R isotherm equation (R ² = 0.988). The maximum biosorption capacity was found to be 20.0 and 115.5 mg g⁻¹ for DR-89 and RG-12, respectively, showing a higher ability of duckweed biomass for the bioremoval of the green dye. The thermodynamic study showed that the dye biosorption was a spontaneous and endothermic process. The efficacy of using duckweed biomass for the bioremoval of the two dyes was limited to concentrations ≤50 mg L⁻¹, indicating that L. gibba biomass may be suitable in the refining step of textile effluent treatment.

An environmentally friendly and inexpensive substitute to the widely used poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) has been developed from soy proteins for textile warp sizing. Textile processing is the major source of industrial water pollution across the world, and sizing and desizing operations account for nearly 30 % of the water consumed in a textile plant. PVA is one of the most common sizing agents used for synthetic fibers and their blends due to PVA's easy water solubility and ability to provide desired sizing performance. However, PVA does not degrade and is a major contributor to pollution in textile effluent treatment plants. Although considerable efforts have been made to replace PVA with biodegradable sizing materials, the performance properties provided by PVA on synthetic fibers and their blends have been unmatched so far. Soy proteins are inexpensive, biodegradable, and have been widely studied for potential use in food packaging, as resins and adhesives. In this research, the potential of using soy proteins as textile sizing agents to replace PVA was studied. Polyester and polyester/cotton rovings, yarns, and fabrics sized with soy protein showed a considerably better improvement in strength and abrasion resistance compared to commercially available PVA-based size. Soy protein size had a 5-day biochemical oxygen demand /chemical oxygen demand ratio of 0.57 compared to 0.01 for PVA indicating that soy protein sizes were easily biodegradable in activated sludge. The total and ammonia nitrogen released from the proteins also did not adversely impact the biodegradability. Good sizing performance and easy biodegradability demonstrate that soy protein-based sizes have potential to replace PVA-based sizes leading to substantial benefits to the textile industry and the environment.

Activated carbons (ACs) were developed from bio-waste materials like rice husk and peanut shell (PS) by various physicochemical activation methods. PS char digested in nitric acid followed by treatment at 673 K resulted in high surface area up to ∼585 m²/g. The novelty of the present study is the identification of oxygen functional groups formed on the surface of activated carbons by infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and quantification by using temperature programmed decomposition (TPD). Typical TPD data indicated that each activation method may lead to varying amounts of acidic and basic functional groups on the surface of the adsorbent, which may be a crucial factor in determining the adsorption capacity. It was shown that ACs developed during the present study are good adsorbents, especially for the removal of a model textile dye methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution. As MB is a basic dye, H₂O₂-treated rice husk showed the best adsorption capacity, which is in agreement with the acidic groups present on the surface. Removal of the dye followed Langmuir isotherm model, whereas MB adsorption on ACs followed pseudo-second-order kinetics.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Lactobacillus 12 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus as both cells and biomasses for the removal of dye from real textile dyeing wastewater. The removal experiments were conducted according to the Box–Behnken experimental design, and the regression equations for the removal of dye were determined by the Minitab 14 program. The optimum variables were found to be 10 g/ L biomass concentration for biomasses, 3 for initial pH of the solution, and 20 °C for temperature with an observed dye removal efficiency of about 60 and 80 % with L. 12 and L. rhamnosus biomasses, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy images also showed that the biomass characteristics studied were favored by the sorption of the dye from the textile industry wastewater. Consequently, these biomasses may be considered as good biosorbents due to their effective yields and the lower cost of the removal of dyes from the effluents of the textile dyeing house.