Microbial decolorization and bioremediation of melanoidin containing molasses spent wash

Molasses spent wash from cane-molasses based distilleries contains a brown coloured recalcitrantpolymer melanoidin, which if disposed untreated poses a great threat to environment. Microbial decolorization and chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction was found to be dependent on specific carbon and nitrogen source. Under optimal condition of pH, carbon and nitrogen concentration for each treatment, it was found that Bacillus sp isolated from soil was capable of removing COD (85. 35%) and colour (81.10%) from distillery waste to the maximum extent after 9 days atpH 7 in the medium containing 0.5% peptone, 2% glucose and 10% (v/v), followed by Phanerochaete chrysosporium and lowest reduction was obtained by using native microbial consortium.