Monitoring Atrazine Removal by Aspergillus versicolor via Electrochemical Techniques from Aqueous Solutions

Abstract

A triazine group pesticide called Atrazine (ATR) is commonly used in agricultural activities, but ATR residues move underground and surface water from the soil, therefore it accumulates in water in high concentrations. ATR-contaminated water is toxic for living organisms, particularly at higher concentrations. The remediation of the ATR-contaminated aqueous environment becomes an important issue. Bioremediation is recommended as an eco-friendly way to treat contaminated water. Bio-removal and bio-sorption are the mechanisms of bioremediation technologies using growing and dried biomass, respectively. This study aims to investigate the ATR bioremediation by Aspergillus versicolor via electro-chemical methods using both growing and dried biomass. The optimal pH for ATR removal was deter-mined as 6 in both mechanisms. The growing fungal culture removed 66.67% of ATR after 3 days of incubation. The dried fungal biosorbent removed 57.14% of ATR after 24 hours. The results of this study showed that the fungal strain effectively removed ATR from pesticide-contaminated aqueous solutions in a short period. Using fungal strains, biological wastewater treatment technology is an effective approach to remove triazine group pesticides from pesticide-contaminated water.