Potential applications of fungi in the remediation of toxic effluents from pulp and paper industries

The discharged wastes from the pulp paper industry contain ligninocellosic material along with other co-pollutants even after secondary treatment. Moreover, the effluent contains a high amount of pH, total suspended solid, total dissolved solid, total solid, biological oxygen demand, and chemical oxygen demand along with heavy metals above the permissible limits. Several studies have concluded that white-rot fungi produced extracellular phenol oxidases which can effectively decompose lignin and other organic pollutants from the contaminated site. Furthermore, various types of persistent organic pollutants and endocrine-disrupting chemicals i.e. nonacosane; heptacosane; pentadecanoic acid, 2-benzisoxazole; hexadecanoic acid and octadecenoic acid are also present in pulp paper industry effluent that can cause aquatic toxicity and hormonal disturbance in the environment. The ligninolytic enzymes of white-rot fungi get a wide substrate particularity and have been involved in the transformation and mineralization of organic pollutants to systemic similarities to lignin. Moreover, continuous widespread land and groundwater pollution as well as surface water have brought this issue to the forefront, and cleaning up of such pollution is still a severe economic challenge for the society. The use of indigenous white-rot fungi for remediation of wastes from the disposal site of the pulp paper industry gives a very relatively novel economic solution for many of our risky environment challenges.