Optimization of the removal efficiency of o-Toluidine: Adsorption on sugarcane bagasse or biodegradation using Phanerochaete chrysosporium immobilized on bagasse?

Abstract

O-Toluidine has been categorized as a human carcinogen. In this paper, the removal efficiency of o-toluidine through adsorption and biodegradation was compared. Sugarcane bagasse (SCB) was used as an adsorbent and then was applied for the immobilization of white-rot fungi, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, and biodegradation of the contaminant. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to investigate the primary and binary effects of parameters in both processes. The impact of temperature, pH, initial o-toluidine concentration, and the adsorbent dose was investigated in the adsorption process. In the biodegradation process, the influence of temperature, pH, and initial o-toluidine concentration was studied. In addition, the effect of inoculum content and stationery, and agitated culture was assessed. According to the results, the models developed for both processes were statistically significant and fitted well with the experimental data. Implementation of the processes at the determined optimum conditions resulted in 65.8% and 96.4% removal efficiency for the adsorption and biodegradation processes, respectively, which shows that the latter was more efficient.

Keywords

• Adsorption
• Biodegradation
• O-toluidine
• Sugarcane bagasse
• White-rot fungi
• pH