Wastewater bioremediation using white rot fungi: validation of a dynamical system with real data obtained in laboratory

Nowadays wastewater treatment has become an important issue in view of the ever increasing worldwide paucity of abundant and clean water supplies. In this work, we propose a mathematical model describing the process of decolourisation of textile industry wastewater and validate it using data from a laboratory experiment. To this aim a selected white rot fungus, capable of degrading a wide range of recalcitrant compounds, is used against Remazol Brilliant Blue Reactive dye (RBBR). The real data obtained in laboratory are used to t the parameters of our model. The qualitative analysis is performed to study the behaviour of the wastewater and of the fungus as functions of time. In the present study the carbon (glucose) has an important role in the system since it can sustain the fungal metabolism and growth. Furthermore a more general mathematical model is studied, considering an open system where there is a constant input and output of pollutant and nutrients respectively.