Decolorization of reactive brilliant red K-2BP by white rot fungus under sterile and non-sterile conditions

Almost all the studies both domestic and international using white rot fungus for dye wastewater treatment are performed under sterile conditions. However, it is obviously unpractical that wastewater with dyes is treated under sterile conditions. A feasible study was made for using white rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium to degrade reactive brilliant red K-2BP dye under non-sterile conditions. The results showed that there was no decolorizing effect under non-sterile condition if white rot fungus was incubated under non-sterile condition, and the decolorization was always near to 0% during decolorizing test for 3 d; in the meantime, a lot of yeast funguses were found in liquid medium when white rot fungus was incubated under non-sterile conditions; however, if white rot fungus was incubated under sterile condition firstly, its decolorization was above 90% under non-sterile condition, which was similar to that of sterile condition. So we point out that the treating process for wastewater with dyes should be divided into two stages. The first stage is that white rot fungus should be incubated under sterile conditions, and the second stage is that reactive brilliant red K-2BP is decolorized under non-sterile conditions. The method not only save the operation cost which decolorizing reactive brilliant red K-2BP under sterile condition, but also provide the feasibility for using white rot fungus to degrade wastewater with dyes under non-sterile conditions.