Biosorption of Remazol Brilliant Blue R dye onto chemically modified and unmodified Yarrowia lipolytica biomass.

Remazol Brilliant Blue R (RBBR) is a widely used carcinogenic and toxic dye. This study focused on RBBR dye removal using chemically modified and unmodified Yarrowia lipolytica biomass. RBBR dye biosorption studies were carried out as a function of pH, initial dye concentration, biosorbent dose, contact time, and temperature. The pH of the aqueous solution strongly influenced the biosorption percent of RBBR dye. The highest dye biosorption capacity yield was obtained at pH 2-3 range. It has been found that the adsorption capacity is quite low at higher pH values. No differences were found between chemically modified and unmodified biomass in terms of RBBR dye biosorption capacity. In the first 15 min, almost 50% RBBR dye was removed from the solution and reached equilibrium within180 min at pH 2. Biosorption isotherm obeyed Langmuir isotherm model and pseudo-second-order kinetic model.