%0 Journal Article
%T Eco-Friendly Chitosan Production by Syncephalastrum racemosum and Application to the Removal of Acid Orange 7 (AO7) from Wastewaters
%A Anabelle C. L. Batista
%A Marta C. Freitas Silva
%A Jefferson B. Batista
%A Aline Elesb£żo Nascimento
%A Galba M. Campos-Takaki
%J Molecules
%D 2013
%I MDPI AG
%R 10.3390/molecules18077646
%X Due to the existence of new methodologies that have reduced the production costs of microbiological chitosan, this paper puts forward the use of agro-industrial residues in order to produce microbiological chitosan and to apply chitosan as an innovative resource for removing acid orange 7 (AO7) from wastewaters. The best culture conditions were selected by a full 2 4 factorial design, and the removal of the dye was optimized by a 2 3 central composite rotational design. The results showed that corn steep liquor (CSL) is an agro-industrial residue that can be advantageously used to produce microbiological chitosan with yields up to 7.8 g/kg of substrate. FT-IR spectra of the product showed typical peak distributions like those of standard chitosan which confirmed the extracted product was chitosan-like. The efficiency of removing low concentrations of AO7 by using microbiological chitosan in distilled water (up to 89.96%) and tap water (up to 80.60%) was significantly higher than the efficiency of the control (chitosan obtained from crustaceans), suggesting that this biopolymer is a better economic alternative for discoloring wastewater where a low concentration of the dye is considered toxic. The high percentage recovery of AO7 from the microbiological chitosan particles used favors this biopolymer as a possible bleaching agent which may be reusable.
%K microbiological chitosan
%K acid orange 7 (AO7)
%K central composite rotational design
%K agro-industrial residues
%K Syncephalastrum racemosum
%K corn steep liquor
%K coagulation-flocculation
%U http://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/18/7/7646