Title: Kinetic evaluation for aerobic biodegradation of resorcinol in a batch reactor

Authors: Sudipta Dey, Somnath Mukherjee, Sunil Kumar

Addresses: Department of Biotechnology, Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata 700107, West Bengal, India. ' Environmental Engineering Division, Civil Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, West Bengal, India. ' National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), I-8, Sector 'C', East Kolkata, New Township, EM Bypass, Kolkata 700 107, India

Abstract: Mixed microbial cultures contained in the sludge of effluent treatment plant of a coke oven industry have been studied for its resorcinol biodegradation capacity under aerobic environment. The result showed that, after necessary acclimatisation, the culture was able to biodegrade up to a concentration of 500 mg/L of resorcinol in the substrate. The specific growth rate of microorganisms was found to be increased steadily up to 300 mg/L of resorcinol as sole carbon source, and then the rate was observed to be descended, but substrate degradation rate increases rapidly up to 400 mg/L, but decreased at 500 mg/L. The biodegradation kinetics is fitted to different substrate inhibition models. Among all models, Luong model was best fitted for resorcinol (RMSE = 0.0104). The biodegradation constants estimated using theses models showed good potential of the mixed microbial culture for resorcinol biodegradation.

Keywords: coke oven plant effluent; resorcinol biodegradation; batch reactors; substrate inhibition kinetics; kinetic constant; modelling; aerobic biodegradation; sludge; wastewater treatment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2011.039278

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2011 Vol.14 No.1/2/3/4, pp.326 - 338

Published online: 29 Jan 2015 *

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