Microbial degradation of phenol by pseudomonas aeruginosa : operating conditions and kinetic study

Abstract EN

Biological degradation of phenol by a bacterial strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATTC87853) in basal salt medium was investigated in batch bioreactor experiments.

The contribution in the microbial growth of various nutrients was studied and the effects of various operating conditions such as initial phenol concentration, temperature and aeration on the biodegradation of phenol were considered.

Data indicate that bacterial growth is substrate-inhibited, with a limiting phenol concentration of about 500 mg.l-1.

The cell growth and phenol degradation kinetics of P.

aeruginosa were also investigated over a wide range of initial phenol concentrations using Haldane model.

The results obtained in these experiments demonstrated that the Haldane kinetic model adequately described the dynamic behaviour of the phenol biodegradation by the strain with maximum specific growth rate (μmax = 0.34 h−1), saturation constant (Ks = 41.7 mg.l−1) and substrate inhibition constant (Ki = 413.4 mg.l−1).