Reaction engineering studies on biodegradation of phenol by Pseudomonas putida MTCC 1194 immobilized on calcium alginate

Phenol in industrial wastewater has been biologically degraded by Pseudomon as putida immobilized in calcium alginate matrix. Effect of different proce ss variables like, initial phenol concentration, temperature, cell loading, bead size, etc. has been studied previously. An attempt has been made to e xplain the kinetics of this immobilized whole cell catalytic process on the basis of Michaelis-Menten (M-M) model within the phenol concentration rang e 100-1000 ppm. It has been observed that at phenol concentration above 750 ppm, the reaction behavior deviate from Michaelian kinetics possibly due t o the effect of intraparticle diffusion. The batch experimental data have b een obtained in shake flask experiments in aerobic conditions. The kinetic parameters of M-M model, vma,. and Km, and the effective diffusion coeffici ent (D-es) for large immobilized beads have been evaluated from Lineweaver- Burk plots and the Eadie-Hofstee plots, respectively. The simulated data sa tisfactorily correspond to those of the experimental values in the phenol c oncentration range up to 500 ppm. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.