Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering (Dec 2023)
Phenol biodegradation by Acinetobacter baumanii and Citrobacter sedlakii isolated from petroleum products contaminated environment
Abstract
Phenol and phenolic compounds are common environmental contaminants in textile, petrochemical, pharmaceutical; oil, and food industries and this can cause a vital threat to the environment. This contaminant is readily absorbed when it encounters the skin or respiratory system and may lead to serious itching, and it may be lethal if swallowed. The exposure to excessive phenol inside the human body has detrimental effects on the respiratory system, and slows growth. The aim of this research is to investigate the phenol degrading ability of bacteria in petroleum products contaminated environment using high performance liquid chromatography. In this investigation, microorganisms having the potential to biodegrade phenol were isolated from petroleum-contaminated locations. The bacteria strains were identified as Citrobacter sedlakii strain NWPK with accession no. MW720666 and Acinetobacter baumanii strain NWPKD with accession no. MW720652 based on molecular analysis achieved via 16S rRNA sequence and phylogenetic analysis and were found to degrade phenol efficiently as the sole carbon and energy source. After 6 days of incubation in MSM media, isolates were tested for growth using optical density at various concentrations of phenol. While the optical densities of NWPK and NWPKD, respectively, vary from 0.02 to 0.06 and 0.03–0.05 at 500 and 1000 mg/L of phenol content. However, isolates were cultivated at concentrations of 500 and 1000 mg/L of phenol because they utilized phenol as their exclusive carbon source. When compared to NWPKD, isolate NWPK showed the strongest biodegradation capacity, consuming 86.46% of 500 mg/L and 87.94% of 1000 mg/L of phenol. Because of their capacity to efficiently consume the substance, this investigation has demonstrated that the two isolates may be employed for the bioremediation of environments that have been contaminated with phenol.
