KINETICS OF PHENOL DEGRADATION USING PSEUDOMONAS-PUTIDA MTCC-1194

Pseudomonas putida (MTCC 1194) has been used to degrade phenol in wate r in the concentration range 100-1000 ppm. The inhibition effects of p henol as substrate have become predominant above the concentration of 500 ppm (5.31 mmoles/dm(3)). The optimum temperature and initial pH re quired for maximum phenol biodegradation were 30 degrees C and 7.00 re spectively. From the degradation data the activation energy (E-a) was found to be equal to 13.8 kcal/g mole substrate reacted. The most suit able inoculum age and volume for highest phenol degradation were 12 hr s and 7% v/v respectively. Surfactants had negligible effect on phenol biodegradation process for this microorganism. Monod model has been u sed to interpret the free cell data on phenol biodegradation. The kine tic parameters have been estimated upto initial concentration of 5.31 mmoles/dm(3). mu(max) and K-S gradually increased with higher concentr ation of phenol. However, beyond the phenol concentration of 5.31 mmol es/dm(3), the inhibition became prominant. The mu(max) has been to be a strong function of initial phenol concentration. The simulated and t he experimental phenol degradation profiles have good correspondence w ith each other.