Sustainable Bioremediation of Textile Wastewater Using Bacterial Consortia and Its Reuse Potential for Irrigation

Abstract

A bacterial consortium was used to assess the potential of bioremediation for treating textile wastewater and evaluating the phytotoxicity effects of biotreated wastewater using tomato seed germination and seedling growth. The optimum conditions for bioremediation were achieved by varying the concentration of inoculum, temperature, incubation time and concentration of textile wastewater for maximum decolorization were 8 mL inoculum, 37 °C, 4 days incubation time, and 25 to 50 mL of the textile wastewater. The optimized treatment was implemented in a laboratory-scale bioreactor, resulting in substantial improvement in the measured wastewater-quality parameters. The COD removal reached approximately 86%, while TSS removal exceeded 80%. The untreated textile wastewater (TW) resulted in a decline in tomato seed germination and seedling development, whereas biotreated wastewater (Bt-W) improved growth performance. The percentage of germination in the control, TW, and Bt-W was 94%, 81%, and 90%, respectively. The seedling vigor index was highest in Bt-W (676.80), compared with the control (655.18) and TW (567.0). Under laboratory scale conditions, bacterial consortium-based biotreatment caused reduction of wastewater related phytotoxic effects and potential future development of reused wastewater from textile effluents. The approach supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.