Common molds soak up toxic textile dyes and can be reused six times
Gupta A, Adnan M, Patel M, Binsuwaidan R, Alshammari N
Phytoremediation
The rivers and streams downstream from textile mills carry dyes that resist ordinary water treatment, and fungal biosorbents like these could offer a cheap, biodegradable fix that doesn't trade one pollutant for another.
Scientists took dead cells from four types of common mold, locked them into a stable form, and tested how well they could pull toxic fabric dyes out of water. The molds grabbed up to 96% of the dye within 150 minutes, and the same material could be washed and reused across six rounds without falling apart. The binding worked like a lock and key, with dye molecules sticking firmly to specific spots on the fungal surface rather than just sitting loosely on top.
Key Findings
Aspergillus niger removed 96.18% of Malachite Green at 150 minutes; Rhizopus arrhizus removed 83.21% of Reactive Blue 19 in the same timeframe.
Adsorption followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model with Langmuir isotherm fit (R² = 0.957–0.999), confirming chemisorption as the dominant binding mechanism.
Immobilized fungal biomass remained effective across six successive adsorption-desorption cycles, demonstrating practical reusability.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Researchers tested dead fungal biomass from four common mold species as a low-cost, reusable filter for removing toxic synthetic dyes from wastewater. The fungal material performed strongly across multiple cycles, clearing up to 96% of dye, and the process followed well-understood chemical binding rules that support scaling this approach for industrial use.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Immobilized dead fungal biomass as a reusable biosorbent for reactive blue 19 and malachite green: kinetics, isotherms, and mechanistic insights.
The increasing discharge of synthetic dyes from industrial effluents, particularly Reactive Blue 19 (RB19) and Malachite Green (MG), poses serious environmental and health concerns due to their per...
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