Development of a bioreactor for remediation of textile effluent and dye mixture: a plant-bacterial synergistic strategy.

The objective of the present work was to develop a plant-bacterial synergistic system for efficient treatment of the textile effluents. Decolorization of the dye Scarlet RR and a dye mixture was studied under in vitro conditions using Glandularia pulchella (Sweet) Tronc., Pseudomonas monteilii ANK and their consortium. Four reactors viz. soil, bacteria, plant and consortium were developed that were subjected for treatment of textile effluents and dye mixture. Under in vitro conditions G. pulchella and P. monteilii showed decolorization of the dye Scarlet RR (SRR) by 97 and 84%, within 72 and 96 h respectively, while their consortium showed 100% decolorization of the dye within 48 h. In case of dye mixture G. pulchella, P. monteilii and consortium-PG showed an ADMI removal of 78, 67 and 92% respectively within 96 h. During decolorization of SRR G. pulchella showed induction in the activities of enzymes lignin peroxidase and DCIP reductase while P. monteilii showed induction of laccase, DCIP reductase and tyrosinase, indicating their involvement in the dye metabolism. High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Fourier Transform Infra Red Spectroscopy (FTIR) and High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) confirmed the biotransformation of SRR and dye mixture into different metabolites. Soil, bacteria, plant and consortium reactors performed an ADMI removal of 42, 46, 62 and 93% in the first decolorization cycle while it showed an average ADMI removal of 21, 27, 59 and 93% in the next three (second, third and fourth) decolorization cycles respectively for the dye mixture within 24 h. Consortium reactor showed an average ADMI removal of 95% within 48 and 60 h for textile effluents A and B respectively for three decolorization cycles, while it showed an average TOC, COD and BOD removal of 74, 70 and 70%, 66, 72 and 67%, and 70, 70 and 66% for three decolorization cycles of the dye mixture (second, third and fourth decolorization cycles), effluent A and effluent B respectively. Degradation of the textile effluents and dye mixture into different metabolites by the consortium reactor was confirmed using HPLC and FTIR. Phytotoxicity studies revealed the non-toxic nature of the metabolites of degradation of dye mixture, effluents A and B by consortium reactor. The developed consortial reactor system performed efficient treatment of the dye mixture and textile effluents, and can be used for treating large amounts of textile effluents when implemented as a constructed wetland by proper engineering approach.