Biosorptive removal of Reactive Yellow 2 using waste biomass from lysine fermentation process

The protonated waste biomass of Corynebacterium glutamicum discharged from an industrial lysine fermentation plant was used for the removal of Reactive Yellow 2 (RY2). To evaluate the biosorption capacity and characteristics, the effects of solution pH, dye concentration, and salts were investigated in a batch mode. Also, the influence of biomass leachate during biosorption process was specially focused. The optimum pH ranges for RY2 uptake was from 1 to 4, with the maximum sorption capacity of the biomass being as high as 178.5 ± 17.0 and 154.3 ± 14.7 mg g−1 at pH 1 and 2, respectively. As the solution pH increased, the dye uptake rapidly decreased, but was negligible under neutral conditions. At pH 7 and above, the biomass leaching was found to be an important factor in evaluating the biosorption performance. The biomass could be easily regenerated and successfully reused even up to the fourth cycle of sorption/desorption.