In the current investigation, the capacity of different yeast strains to decolorize reactive black 5 (RB-5) was assessed. A comparative study between the different strains demonstrated that Saccharomyces cerevisiae X19G2 exhibited the highest decolorization rate (69.20 ± 1.16%) after 48 h of incubation. This strain was selected to optimize the medium components' concentrations for maximum RB-5 decolorization. Response-surface methodology (RSM) was tested for the most significant parameters (glucose, yeast extract and RB-5 dye concentrations) that were previously determined by Plackett-Burman design. A dye decolorization rate of 99.59 ± 0.24% was achieved within 48 h using a maximum RB-5 concentration (0.15 g/L) with glucose and yeast extract concentrations equalling to 10.5 g/L and 1 g/L, respectively. Experimental data results proved to fit well with the pseudo-second order kinetics model. The phytotoxicity assessment was carried out using Raphanus sativus seeds to determine the toxicity of RB-5 before and after treatment by S. cerevisiae. Results suggested that germination rate and the length of seeds radical irrigated with 0.15 g/L of RB-5 decreased by 30 and 53%, compared to those irrigated with treated solution. Therefore, metabolites derived from decolorization of RB-5 by S. cerevisiae X19G2 were significantly less toxic than the original dye.
Keywords: Decolorization; Kinetics study; Reactive black 5 dye; Response-surface methodology; Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
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