Corynebacterium glutamicum, a lysine fermentation industry waste, showed promise for the removal of Reactive black 5 (RB5). Due to practical difficulties in solid-liquid separation, the free biomass was immobilized in two polymer matrices: calcium alginate and polysulfone. Initially, the optimization of biomass loading in polymeric beads and bead dosage were examined. Of the different combinations examined, 4% (with bead dosage of 2 g per 40 ml) and 14% (with bead dosage of 1 g per 40 ml) in the case of alginate and polysulfone beads, respectively, were identified as the optimal conditions. According to the Langmuir model, at pH 1, the maximum RB5 uptakes of 352, 282 and 291 mg g(-1) were observed for free, alginate and polysulfone-immobilized biomass, respectively. According to the Weber-Morris model, intraparticle diffusion was found to be the potential rate limiting step for the immobilized beads. Regeneration experiments, with 0.01 M NaOH and Na(2)CO(3) as eluents, revealed that polysulfone beads exhibited invariable RB5 uptake capacity and very high mechanical stability even at the end of twentieth cycle, confirming the technical feasibility of the biosorption process for industrial applications.