Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: ANNA GABRIELLY DUARTE NEVES

BIOREMEDIATION OF DYES AND TEXTILE EFFLUENTS BY STRAINS OF Aspergillus ISOLATED FROM THE SOIL

OF CAATINGA, BRAZIL

Biosorption, Biodegradation, textile dyes, Lignolytic enzymes, pelletized biomass.

Aspergillus are filamentous fungi with high industrial potential, due to their rapid adaptation to environmental and

 nutritional conditions, and bioproducts produced from these fungi have been applied in pharmaceuticals, food and

 cosmetics. In recent years, it has awakened important interest in bioremediation, degrading, accumulating and/or

 adsorbing contaminants from its metabolism or biomass. Aiming at the potential of these fungi, a systematic review

 summarized the analysis of 25 articles that applied Aspergillus as bioremediation agents for industrial dyes. Twelve

 different species were reported in the treatment of dyes, mainly from the azo and anthraquinone classes, with 

discolorations above 85%. The described mechanisms were biodegradation and biosorption and the physical-chemical

factors that most interfered in the processes were dye concentration, pH, temperature and carbon source. These 

results guided experimental research, where the biomass and metabolism of Aspergillus isolated from the soil of the

 Caatinga, Brazil, were explored to decolorize, biosorb and biodegrade dyes used in the Textile and Apparel Pole in the

 Agreste region of Pernambuco. The dyes studied were: Direct Black 22, Congo Red and Amido Black 10B, all 

applied at a concentration of 50 mg/L. The influence of pH, temperature and amount of biomass, desorption profile

 and activity of lignolytic enzymes were analyzed, presented in two chapters. In all cases the fungi were able to

 discolor over 95% of the dye in up to 5 hours.