Phenol Biodegradation Kinetics in the Presence of Supplimentary Substrate

Abstract

Biodegradation of phenol in the presence of glucose as a supplementary substrate was investigated with mixed microbial consortium isolated from waste effluent of coke-steel factory. Batch experiments were carried out at room temperature and pH value of 7. Initial phenol and glucose concentrations were in the range of 25-1000 mg/l and 500-3000 mg/l, respectively. In a dual substrates system the concentration of supplementary source (glucose) was kept constant. It was obvious to find out that glucose as a simple carbon source was initially utilized in the presence of phenol. The rate of phenol degradation started once glucose concentration was significantly depleted. Phenol was known to be an inhibitory substrate, thus Haldane/Andrews kinetic model was applied to evaluate the growth kinetic parameters. The kinetic parameters, mm, Ks and Ki were 0.01 1/h, 27.04 and 127.55 mg/l, respectively. The specific growth rate of the culture in dual substrates system was expressed by SKIP model (R2> 0.951). The values of interaction parameters showed uncompetitive partially inhibition at high phenol concentration.