Biodegradation characteristics of phenol and quinoline by <i>Alcaligenes faecalis</i> and its immobilization application

Abstract

The strains that can only degrade phenol or quinoline are limited in practical application. It is more practical to select the tolerant strains which can degrade the compound pollutants. A phenol-quinoline degrading strain KD1 was isolated from activated sludge in a coke-plant wastewater treatment system. KD1 was identified as Alcaligenes faecalis on the basis of morphological characteristics, physiological and biochemical characteristics and the analysis of its 16S rDNA sequence. The optimal degradation conditions showed that strain KD1 had good pH applicability, and the optimal conditions were as follow: inoculation volume 10 %, rotation rate 150 r/min, culture temperature 30 ℃, initial pH value 7.0 respectively. Nitrogen source can affect the degradation of phenol by strain KD1, while strain KD1 can synergistically degrade phenol and quinoline under co-substrate. The degradation reaction of phenol and quinoline can be described with zero order kinetic equation within 700 mg/L phenol and 400 mg/L respectively. The growth kinetics of Strain KD1 could be described with Haldanes inhibition model, and the inhibition concentrations of it were 293 mg/L and 229 mg/L, respectively. The new immobilized carrier prepared by embedding and adsorption can improve the degradation efficiency of co-substrate pollutants.

Keywords

• phenol
• quinoline
• co-degradation
• degradation characteristics
• immobilization