Toxicity evaluation of reactive dyestuffs, auxiliaries and selected effluents in textile finishing industry to luminescent bacteria Vibrio fischeri

The toxicity of 17 selected process effluents, 11 reactive dyestuffs and 8 auxiliaries from a textile dyeing and finishing mill in Ayazaga, Istanbul, Turkey was evaluated by bioluminescence test using bacteria Vibrio fischeri in LUMIStox 300. The EC20 and EC50 for auxiliaries, the EC20 for dyestuffs were determined. For selected process effluents GL-values, the dilution level at which a wastewater sample causes less than 20% inhibition, were examined. Our results demonstrate that the toxicity assessment with luminescent bacteria is effective and of practical use for chemicals applied in textile finishing industry with the limitation of the deep dark-colored dye bath samples and for the related effluents. Inhibition effects of numerous dyestuffs as well as auxiliaries to luminescent bacteria differed considerably with a range 5–600 mgl−1 for EC20 and 9–6930 mgl−1 for EC50, respectively. Among 17 effluents, 1 sample exhibited high toxicity (GL=100), 7 showed moderate toxicity (GL=12–32), and 9 had a GL-value <10 indicating a low or no toxicity.