Removal of Congo Red by Sepiolite supported Aspergillus Fumigatus and Aspergillus Terreus

Two different biomass obtained from Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus terreus fungal cultures, were immobilized by natural and HDTMA modified-sepiolite and sorbents were prepared. It has been intended to determine the availability of the prepared sorbents to remove Congo Red (an anionic dyestuff) from aqueous solutions, in the batch system. By the affecting sorption mechanism of equilibrium time, initial dyestuff concentration and temperature parameters data, pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order and intraparticle diffusion models, Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were applied. It is concluded that the equilibrium data of sorption in terms of sorption capacity for all sorbents can be represented by Langmuir isotherm model within determine limit of error. I) A. fumigatus and MS- A. fumigatus were calculated as 72.99 mgg‒1 and 114.28 mgg‒1, respectively, at 45oC; while DS-A. fumigatus was calculated as 355,871 mgg‒1 at 35 oC. II) A. terreus was calculated as 67.07 mgg‒1 at 45 oC. DS-A. terreus and MS-A. terreus were calculated as 353.36 mgg‒1 and 69.49 mgg‒1, respectively, at 35 oC. In order to clarify the sorption behavior of immobilized sorbents used in the experiments, characterization studies were carried out using FT-IR and SEM analyzes. In general, the immobilized sorbents developed in our study were suggested as on effective and alternative materials for the removal of Congo Red dyestuff from aquatic solutions. Keywords: Sorption, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus terreus, Congo Red, Immobilized sorbent