The mechanism of evans blue removal by sunflower

Huicheng Xie, Chuanrong Li, Ji

Abstract

Dyeing wastewater has caused serious synthetic dyes pollution on both water bodies and soil in China. This study investigated the mechanism of azo dye removal by different vegetative organs of hydroponically grown sunflowers. In all treatments, the percent of dye removal by living organs was higher than corresponding dead organs. The results show that decolorization of Evans blue by tissues of sunflowers was partly attribute to degradation and partly due to sorption. Moreover, the biodegradtion played a greater role than sorption in the dye removal. The biodegradation rate of the dye was estimated. Realistic values of Km and Vmax were estimated by a computer program using non-linear regression treatment and Lineweaver–Burk model. In both methods, the rate of azo dye removal from the aqueous solution by roots was the highest, followed by leaves and stems.