Fungal Decolourization and Degradation of Synthetic Dyes Some Chemical Engineering Aspects

There are more than 100,000 different synthetic dyes available on the market, produced in over 700,000 tons annually worldwide. They are used in the textile, paper, cosmetics, food and pharmaceutical industries. Some of them are dangerous to living organisms due to their possible toxicity and carcinogenicity. About 10% of the above mentioned amount is lost in wastewater, which justifies the concern about the environment. Among the numerous watertreatment technologies, research interest in the fungal bioremediation, i.e. decolourization and degradation of synthetic dyes, has increased significantly in the last three decades. The physico-chemical methods of dye degradation have already been well recognized from the chemical engineering point of view and also widely applied on the industrial scale. In the last few decades, research in the dye bioremediation technologies has gained its significance. From the available literature, it can be seen that the majority of research has been performed from the biochemical and microbiological point of view on a laboratory scale, while there is a lack of chemical engineering approach to the research of this serious problem. The purpose of this work is to review the chemical engineering principles, which should be applied during the research and transfer of dye bioremediation technologies to a large scale. Accordingly, a brief review of research results from bioreactors of volumes larger than 1.0 L is presented.