Biorreator de leito fixo em escala de bancada utilizando phanerochaete chrysosporium para tratamento de corante amaranto

Abstract

As the conventional physico-chemical processes used in food industry to treat coloured effluent is not satisfactory, biotechnology takes place as an efficient alternative. The aim of this work was to study the biodegradation of the amaranth dye by the white-rot fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium using sugarcane bagasse as a support for enzyme production, stimulating the metabolism in a fixed bed bioreactor for bench scale. The fungal growth needed to be standardized, and the method proved to be the most reliable by statistical analysis (Tukey test and F) was the disk shaped inoculum. The tolerance of the fungus to the dye was then tested in Petri dishes with agar-agar and dye concentrations up to 2% (w/v), none of which were inhibitory concentrations, and discoloration were shown with 0.025% and 0.05%, only. The influence of bagasse on dye biodegradation was estimated by inoculating the fungus in plastic bags containing bagasse and in colored liquids alone, without the bagasse; comparing them, by analyzing the activity of the enzymes (LiP, MnP and Laccase) and discolouration, both after 10 days of experiment in UV/VIS spectrophotometry, according to their respective wavelengths. Increased production of LiP and total bleaching of all samples were observed with bagasse. Therefore, LiP can be associated with degradation of amaranth. With these results, the creation and development of the bioreactor were made possible. Saturating the sugarcane bagasse used as a fixed bed support for the fungus - with dye concentrations of 0.0125% for 30 days. The bioreactor experiment was successful producing higher enzyme activities in comparison to the one with plastic bags at the same age, resulting in 80.2% of decolorization.