Evaluación de tres hongos lignolíticos y de Aspergillus niger como alternativa para el tratamiento de aguas residuales del curtido de pieles

In order to evaluate the capacity of chromium and color removal of the white rot fungus Pleurotus ostreatus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Trametes versicolor and the deuteromycete Aspergillus niger, using chromium salts and tanning wastewater, the tolerance to two chromium salts using the inhibitory minimum concentration test (IMC) was studied. According to the results, significant differences (p <0.0001) demonstrate that P. chrysosporium was the most tolerant microorganism with IMC of 30,000 mg L-1 for chromium sulfate and 7,500 mg L^-1 for dichromate of potassium. The effect of the dilution of residual on the capacity of biodecoloration and the formation of biomass were evaluated using a 2² experimental design. P. chrysosporium displayed greater capacity of decoloration associated with the amount of biomass with values of 39% and 16 mg L^-1 in 10 days of evaluation. When supplementing this microorganism with carbon and nitrogen sources it was observed that both nutritional conditions could be used without significant differences (p>0.0001) between treatments. From these results the microorganisms were immobilized in polyurethane foam to carry out the experiments of treatment capacity of residual to the 100% by 10 days at 25° C, observing that the immobilized viable biomass removed 97% of CrT, 97% of Cr(III), 85% Cr(VI), 12% DQO and 67% of color. These parameters were correlated positively with the amount of biomass immobilized and the enzymatic activity type LiP (0.2 U L-1) and MnP (7 U L^-1). The immobilized and inactivated biomasses, and the foam as unique support, were also efficient concerning the previous parameters but in smaller proportion. Micro EDX analysis indicated that both the viable and inactive biomasses present important adsorptive characteristics that favored the expressed total chromium removal in atomic percentage.