Isolation and characterization of a fungus decolourising the distillery effluent

Distillery industry produces wastes characterized by higher organic matter, disagreeable colour and odour. Spent wash samples collected from Mc.Dowells Distillery Ltd., Kerala possesses dark black colour, pH 3.5-4.0, total B.O.D. 60-65,000 mg/l. The recalcitrance of the effluent is due to the presence of Melanoidins polymers formed by Maillard amino-carbonyl reaction. This polymer is not easily degraded by microbes as they have anti-oxidant properties toxic to microorganisms. Due to the high B.O.D. and C.O.D , its disposal into water bodies result in eutrophication and detriment to aquatic life and ruin vegetation on land. The present study is done with a very potent fungus isolated from the soil sample collected from the distillery waste dump site. The isolate was characterized in detail. The suitable media and various growth parameters for the isolate were optimized with 10% effluent, the isolate produced more than 90% decolourisation and with 20- 30 % effluent it produced 80 and 70 % decolourisation respectively over 96 hours. Decolourisation of DMSW was measured as a decrease in optical density measurements at 475nm of culture media supernatant against uninoculated spent wash and expressed as the percentage decrease in absorbance.