SCREENING OF MICROORGANISMS FOR DECOLORIZATION OF TREATED DISTILLERY WASTEWATER

The objective of this research work was to obtain a microorganism capable of decolorizing treated distillery wastewater (TDW). 21 isolated and procured microorganisms were screened for their percentage decolorization. The screening strategy was performed using three different culture media in two main steps. The primary screening was carried out in two stages. In the first stage 10 microorganisms had a lower than 25% decolorization of TDW (with 25% TDW concentration). In the second stage 8 microorganisms had more than a 48% decolorization of TDW. In the secondary screening all 3 different culture media, the effect of TDW concentration, pH and nitrogen source were studied. A fungus identified by morphology examination to be Aspergillus fumigatus U­B2­­, isolated from soil samples taken from the vicinity of the Bidestan Distillery and Food Products, Qazvin, Iran had maximum decolorization of 81%.