Title: Some remarks on the evaluation of m-cresol and pyridine biodegradation kinetics

Authors: Abdul Rahman Ghannoum; Zarook M. Shareefdeen; Ali Elkamel

Addresses: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada ' Department of Chemical Engineering, American University of Sharjah (AUS), P.O. Box 26666, Sharjah, UAE ' Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada

Abstract: Wastewater produced from petroleum and coal processing industries can be contaminated with m-cresol and pyridine, which are two hazardous compounds with significant environmental and health effects. A bacterium known as Lysinibacillus cresolivorans has been demonstrated to effectively biodegrade m-cresol and this bacterium has been utilised by researchers to study the interaction effects of m-cresol and pyridine. Some variations in the literature were observed in the experimental data of the biodegradation of pyridine, which may be attributed to inaccurate estimation of initial cell mass concentration. In this work, simulations were run in combination with an algorithm to optimise initial biomass cell concentrations to describe the biodegradation kinetics of an inhibitory system in relation to experimental data. Simulated data on predicted cell concentrations and the results of this study may facilitate full-scale bioreactor design for m-cresol and pyridine removal from wastewater resulting from petroleum and coal processing.

Keywords: biodegradation; biomass; kinetic interaction; m-cresol; pyridine; substrate inhibition.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2017.085161

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2017 Vol.19 No.4, pp.353 - 362

Received: 04 Apr 2016
Accepted: 24 Dec 2016
Published online: 13 Jul 2017 *

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