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Styrofoam wastes are composed of many polymerized styrene monomers that are generally considered to be recalcitrant and are resistant to biodegradation. In this study, the ability of ligninolytic fungi and bacteria were investigated on degradation of styrofoam wastes. All the fungi and bacteria used were able to grow on agar media containing styrofoam. Fungi Cymatoderma dendriticum WM01, Ceriporia sp. BIOM3, and Pestalotiopsis sp. NG007 degraded 15.7%, 19.4%, and 74.4% styrofoam within 30 d, respectively. Cerratia marcescens BLSP4, Bacillus subtilis BLSP4, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa BLSP4 degraded 38.3%, 52.6%, and 63.4% styrofoam, respectively. SEM analysis demonstrated the appearance of micro pore in styrofoams treated with Pestalotiopsis sp. NG007 and P. aeruginosa indicating biodegradation. In addition, analysis using UATR FTIR corroborated removal of some functional groups from the degraded styrofoam were eliminated. This study showed strains of ligninolytic fungi and selected bacteria have the potential to be used in bioremediation of styrofoam wastes.

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Light Expanded Clay Aggregate (LECA) in a granular form was used for the immobilization of fungus Trametes hirsuta D7 to decolorize Remazol Brilliant Blue R (RBBR) dye. The efficacy of LECA as a media for immobilization was assessed using steam activation, contact time, immobilization method and dosage of sorbent. Batch experiments were carried out for decolorization and the results showed that activated LECA has the capability to remove 35% RBBR for 24 h of contact time. Non-freeze dry immobilization process demonstrated a higher decolorization than that of freeze dry process with maximum 88% and 22% removal, respectively. Different dosage of activated and non-freeze dry-LECA was tested to achieve optimum decolorization and it was found that 0.2 g/ml dye could remove 76% dye for 3 hours and reached the maximum removal for 94% at 24 hours with high laccase activities (460 U L− 1). This study found that fungus T. hirsuta D7 and LECA could be used to decolorize RBBR and LECA had the potential to be an alternative matrix for fungi immobilization.