Nature-friendly Approach to Environmental Pollution: Biological Removal of Dispersed Yellow 4G Dye by mixed fungi cell-CaAlj-PVA

Abstract The study investigated the biological removal of dispersed yellow 4G dye in different concentrations by four types of fungi cells. Firstly, the study determined two fungi species, Morchella esculenta and Trametes versicolor, with the highest biological removal rate, by examining their enzyme activities for laccase and MnP, as well as the biological removal of dyestuff by the free fungi cells. After 120 hours of testing, the biological removal of dye in different concentrations by M. esculenta and T. versicolor in their free forms was 85.86, 83.67, 72.18, 70.38, 60.76, and 84.66, 83.12, 79.37, 67.54, 60.35%, respectively. Next, the study prepared a mixture of the fungi cells with the highest biodegradation rate, and then examined enzyme activity and biological dyestuff removal, firstly with the free fungi cell consortium and then with the calcium alginate-PVA-immobilized cell mixture. Within 120 hours, using immobilized M.esculenta and T. versicolor cell mixture, dispersed yellow 4G dye in different concentrations was degraded by 96.24, 88.37, 85.40, 75.72, and 59.36%, respectively. With the free M.esculenta and T. versicolor cell consortium, degradation rates of 92.47, 85.61, 63.46, 43.72, and 38.36% were observed. These results showed that immobilized cells were more suitable for the biological removal of dispersed yellow 4G dyestuffs. During the study, the roles of laccase and manganese peroxidase enzyme activity control were examined, to investigate whether dispersed 4G dyestuff was biologically degraded by the fungus cells. The study also varied the concentration of dye to investigate its effect on the performance of the fungal cells.