Tolerance and biodegradation of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX) by a metal acclimatized bacterial consortium culture
This investigation reports the tolerance and biodegradation of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene isomers (BTEX) by a heavy metal-adapted environmental bacterial consortium, known as consortium culture (CC). Higher tolerance was observed with benzene (IC50 value up to 191.25 mg/L), foll...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://eprints.intimal.edu.my/141/ http://eprints.intimal.edu.my/141/1/26_ft.pdf |
| Summary: | This investigation reports the tolerance and
biodegradation of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and
xylene isomers (BTEX) by a heavy metal-adapted
environmental bacterial consortium, known as
consortium culture (CC). Higher tolerance was
observed with benzene (IC50 value up to 191.25 mg/L),
followed by toluene (IC50 = 139.67 mg/L), xylene (IC50
= 97.04 mg/L) and ethylbenzene (IC50 =96.99 mg/L).
Significant decrease (p < 0.05) in the specific growth
rate (ยต), however was observed as the concentrations
of each individual BTEX were increased from 10 mg/L
to 500 mg/L. Growth of CC was completely inhibited
at 250 mg/L ethylbenzene and 500 mg/L xylene.
Toxicity followed the trend: B<T<X<E.
Biodegradation of individual BTEX compound was
monitored by gas chromatography. The GC-FID
chromatographic profiles showed the capability of CC
to significantly biodegrade (p < 0.05) benzene (61.66
%), toluene (55.91 %), ethylbenzene (37.15 %), pxylene
(43.66 %), m-xylene (47.86 %) and o-xylene
(41.03 %) at an initial concentration of 50 mg/L after
48 hours. These findings confirm the ability of CC to
withstand biodegrade and utilize BTEX as the sole
source of carbon and energy in the following order:
B>T>X>E. |
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