Total dissolved solids and chemical oxygen demand reduction in textile dyeing industry effluent by treating with different penicillium species Sathiyamoorthy Manickkam*, Srinivasamoorthy R.K.**, Sanghavi Biraju*, Temesgen Tatek* *Department of Chemical Engineering, Adama Science & Technology University, Adama, Ethiopia, Africa **Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Africa Online published on 26 June, 2013. Abstract Combating environmental pollution is a key challenge in the present scenario. In this context, the dye effluent of the Textile industries has been identified as one of the major pollutant of water ways. In Ethiopia, Adama is one of the major textiles sector contributing to a sizeable chunk to the economy of the country. The presence of total dissolved solids and chemical oxygen demand are the major factors for the pollution load in the dye effluent. Quite a large amount of research has gone into preventing pollution by reducing the total dissolved solids and chemical oxygen demand. The chemical and biological methods have been tried to reduce the pollution level of the dye effluents, the latter method using microbial organisms is attractive because of mild operating conditions and the economy of the process. With this view, experiments have been conducted to degrade the dye effluents using three penicillium species penicillium chrysogenum, penicillium expansum and penicillium funiculosum. The primary treated waste water TDS values are reduced to 2300 mg/lit from 6100 mg/lit which meets the pollution control standards. So it is strongly recommended that the primary treated effluent were degraded well by the penicillium species and can be reused in the textile industries. Top Keywords Textile dye effluent, Total dissolved solid, Chemical Oxygen Demand, Penicillium chrysogenum, Penicillium expansum, Penicillium funiculosum. Top |