Textile Azo Dyes Decolourization by Combined Ultrasonication and Microbial Removal

Textile industry involves several processes generated large quantities of wastewaters. These effluents have some properties such as strong color due to residual dyes, recalcitrance due to the presence of compounds such as dyes, surfactants and sizing agents or high salinity, high temperature and variable pH. Remediation by a combination of various physical, chemical and biological techniques of these effluents requires due to their complex and bioresistant characters. Ultrasonication is one of the advanced oxidation processes which are degradation method of organic compounds. It has the potential for use in environmental remediation due to the formation of highly concentrated oxidizing species. In this study, the decolourization of Reactive Red 2 (RR2), Reactive Blue 4 (RR4) and Basic Yellow 2 (BY2) were studied in the first step by continuous ultrasonic irradiation at 20 kHz and in the second step by microbial. The maximum decolourizations were found as 97, 89 and 46% for RR2, RB4 and BY2, respectively by an ultrasonic/ microbial combined method.