Decolorization and degradation of xenobiotic azo dye Reactive Yellow-84A and textile effluent by Galactomyces geotrichum

Galactomyces geotrichum MTCC 1360 exhibited 86% decolorization of azo dye Reactive Yellow-84A (50 mg L−1) within 30 h at 30 °C and pH 7.0 under static condition. Examination of azoreductase, laccase and tyrosinase enzyme activities confirmed their prominent role in Reactive Yellow-84A degradation. Considerable reduction of COD (73%) and TOC (62%) during degradation of the dye was indicative of conversion of complex dye into simple products, which were further analyzed by HPLC, FTIR, GC-MS and HPTLC. The degradation products were identified as 4(5-hydroxy, 4-amino cyclopentane) sulfobenzene and 4(5-hydroxy cyclopentane) sulfobenzene by GC-MS. In addition, when G. geotrichum was applied to decolorize textile effluent, it showed 85% of true color removal (ADMI removal) within 72 h, along with a significant reduction in TOC and COD. Phytotoxicity studies revealed the less toxic nature of degraded Reactive Yellow-84A as compared to original dye.