Biodegradation of Congo red dye using polyurethane foam-based biocarrier combined with activated carbon and sodium alginate: Batch and continuous study

Dyes are an important class of organic pollutants and are well known for their adverse effects on aquatic life and human beings. In this work, an effort has been made to treat the dye-containing wastewater using modified biocarriers in packed bed bioreactors (PBBRs). Lysinibacillus sp. immobilized polyurethane foam combined with activated carbon and sodium alginate was used for the biodegradation of Congo red dye. The optimum values of process time, glucose concentration, and dye concentration were obtained to be 4.0 days, 2.0 g/L, and 50 mg/L, respectively. The maximum dye removal efficiency (RE) of 92.63 % was obtained at the optimized conditions. The continuous PBBR offered a maximum RE and elimination capacity of 90.73% and 10.89 mg/L. d, respectively, at an inlet loading rate of 12 mg/L. d. Moreover, the growth kinetic of Lysinibacillus sp. was well predicted by the Andrew-Haldane model with a regression coefficient of 0.98.