Valorization of Escherichia coli waste biomass as a biosorbent for removing reactive dyes from aqueous solutions

Industrial waste biomass of Escherichia coli was developed as a biosorbent of Reactive Yellow 2 (RY2). The raw biomass was modified by esterification under acidic conditions to remove the carboxyl groups that could interfere with the binding of RY2 to the biomass. The maximum uptake of the esterified biomass was 335.16 ± 5.81 mg/g, which was 1.5 and 8.3 times higher than those of the raw biomass and ion-exchange resin (Amberjet 4200), respectively. This study can be a step forward to the feasible valorization of microbial fermentation wastes as an adsorbent.