Textile industries produce effluents rich in dyes throughout its production chain. In this study, kinetic experiments were carried using the dead and treated biomass of Aspergillus niger for indigo carmine removal from the synthetic aqueous solutions of this dye. A kinetic run with activated carbon was also carried for comparison. The obtained results suggest that non-treated fungal biomass has been capable of remove 95% of carmine indigo from the aqueous solutions. This removal was similar to that obtained with activated carbon. The results also indicate that acid treatments considerably improve the kinetic of the dye removal, but they are not influenced the maximum adsorptive capacity of the adsorbent. Moreover, saline and alkaline treatments decreased both the maximum capacity and the kinetic of adsorption.
Aspergillus niger; adsorption; carmine indigo; removal of dye
