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Eco-friendly biodegradation of synthetic dyes using algae and its toxicological assessment on Clarias gariepinus

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Abstract

The ability of algae to decolorize and remove synthetic dyes such as Congo red, methylene blue, rhodamine B, and remazol black dyes was investigated in this study. The tested algae showed increased efficiency for color degradation observed by UV spectral analysis. Chlorococcum sp. exhibited a very drastic reduction in absorbance on the 5th day, and the laccase enzyme production was also higher (533 U/ml) in Congo red treatment. The other tested dyes also showed limited degradation, but their absorbance dropped only after 10 days of treatment. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis confirmed a significant shift in functional groups of control and treated samples. Furthermore, the Clarias gariepinus fish was acclimatized and was preceded for dye treatment. In the toxicity assessment of Congo red, the mortality rate of 100% was observed on the 8th day, whereas the algae-treated dye at 2 ppm showed only 40% mortality on the 20th day. Histopathological observations of the liver and kidney from sacrificed fishes revealed intense cellular damage in higher concentrations. In the experimental studies, 6 ppm of the dye had the least toxicity to tested fish cells (kidney and liver). The uniqueness and significance of the present investigation was to evaluate the toxicity of various concentrations of Congo red dye on fish by performing histological studies of internal organs, which made Chlorococcum sp. a potential candidate for dye effluent treatment. From the present study, it is evident that the investigated microalgae may serve as a better tool for industrial applications in safe toxicant removal from aquatic ecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Periyar University for providing sophisticated laboratory facilities to carry out this research work. The authors also sincerely show gratitude to DST-FIST, New Delhi, India, for granting sophisticated instrumentation with reference No. SR/FST/LSI–640/2015 (C) dated 30/5/2016.

Funding

The first author is grateful to the authorities of the Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India, for funding with the grant of University Research Fellowship (Lr. No. PU/A&A-3/URF/2014).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Poonamallee High Road, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600077, India

    Santhosh Sigamani

  2. Department of Microbiology, School of Biosciences, Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu, 636011, India

    Santhosh Sigamani, Siddharthan Nagarajan, Dhandapani Ramamurthy & Hemalatha Natarajan

  3. Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontic, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Poonamallee High Road, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600077, India

    Ragavendran Chinnasamy

  4. Centre for Advanced Studies in Botany, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600025, India

    Thirumalai Sathiyamoorthy & Mathivanan Narayanasamy

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  1. Santhosh Sigamani
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Contributions

SS: designed the experiment, carried out the experiment, and approved the final version of the manuscript. CR: formal analysis, histopathological assessment of the experimental fish. CR, TS, and MN: performed the statistical analysis, methodology. SS and SN: performed the acclimatization and toxicological assessment of fish. SS, DR, MN, and HN: coordination of overall studies and review of the article. DR and NH: resources. All authors have approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Santhosh Sigamani or Hemalatha Natarajan.

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Ethical approval

All the experimental designs in this research article were in accordance with ethical guidelines and approved by Periyar University – Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC approval No.: PU-IAEC/2018/M1/04).

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Highlights

• The tested microalgae were very effective in the degradation of four synthetic dyes.

• Dye degradation effect was determined by UV spectroscopy.

• FTIR analysis revealed the shift in functional groups of the tested dye.

• Extracellular laccase enzyme production by microalgae was evaluated.

• Toxicity of algae-treated dye on Clarias gariepinus–fish was analyzed.

• The mortality of the fish was lower in higher concentrations of dye.

• Histological images showed less damage to the internal organs of fish treated with a moderate concentration of phycotreated Congo red dye.

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Sigamani, S., Chinnasamy, R., Sathiyamoorthy, T. et al. Eco-friendly biodegradation of synthetic dyes using algae and its toxicological assessment on Clarias gariepinus. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-04208-7

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