ABSTRACT
Huge amount of toxic sludge is being released into the environment as a result of the rising industrialization and urbanization. All elements of the environment are being contaminated by the improper handling of this hazardous sludge. Contamination of water bodies is one of the serious problems faced due to industrial discharge. There are many methods employed for the treatment of the wastewater, but complete treatment is not possible. Adsorption methods are frequently employed for the removal of specific type of contaminants; particularly those are difficult to biodegrade.
One of the troublesome groups of contaminant is dyes. Dyes have been used as colouring agents for particularly since very early times. Some colours are poisonous to living things. Dye exposure can lead to cancer, genetic mutation, and the inhibition of enzyme activity. Complete removal of dye with physical and chemical means is not possible, due to their variety, complexity and toxicity. For the removal of colours from wastewater, biological treatment and adsorption on activated carbon are currently becoming more popular. Despite being a favoured sorbent for colour removal, commercial activated carbon’s broad application is constrained by its expensive price.
As a result, researchers are looking for the biological materials for the removal of dye from wastewater. Natural materials and biological agents (bacteria, algae and fungi) can be used as biosorbents.
This chapter focusses on (i) different types of biosorbents for dye removal and (ii) the mechanism, kinetics, thermodynamics of microbial biosorbents and others. These biomasses also have a very high potential for dye sorption. Thus, combining the bioadsorption and biodegradation processes will result in total dye removal from the contaminated water.
