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Preparation and Characterisation of Chitosan from Penicillium chrysogenum Thom for Decolourisation of Congo Red Dye in Aqueous Solution OSARUMWENSE, JO; AKPAJA, EO & EKHOSUEHI, JA Abstract This work investigated the removal efficiency of Congo red dye (CRD) from aqueous solution using chitosan prepared from the biomass of Penicillium chrysogenum Thom. CRD is a benzidine - based anionic diazo dye known to be carcinogenic at low concentration. Chitosan was prepared from the mycelium of P. chrysogenum through the process of deproteination and deacetylation; and the chitosan was characterised using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis through which the degree of deacetylation (DD) was estimated. Adsorption study was carried out in a slurry batch system at ambient temperature (28 ± 1oC). The percentage yield of chitosan from the fungus was 12.2% while 82.4% DD was achieved. The FT-IR spectrum showed that chitosan contained amide carbonyl band as a measure of N-acetyl group, alkyl groups and hydroxyl groups; the spectrum of P. chrysogenum-based chitosan corresponded to the pattern of the commercial chitosan used as control. The commercial and P. chrysogenum-based chitosan attained decolourisation efficiency of 95.2% and 84.6% respectively, which gives the indication that chitosan from P. chrysogenum biomass, can effectively remove CRD from aqueous solution. Keywords Adsorption; Chitosan; Congo red; Deacetylation; Penicillium chrysogenum.

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