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Bioremediation of Phenol-Contaminated Industrial Wastewater Using a Bacterial Consortium—from Laboratory to Field

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Abstract

Singapore is an island city state with an economy dependent on petrochemicals and shipping, but with severely limited water resources. This study aimed to establish a suitable methodology specifically for the translation of a laboratory-scale system to an industrial scale for the treatment of phenol-contaminated wastewater. A habitat-specific microbial consortium was developed and reconstituted from 22 pure cultures dominated by Acinetobacter sp., Bacillus sp. and Pseudomonas sp. to form a synthetic biofilm-forming community with the capacity to degrade phenol-contaminated wastewater. The laboratory experiment was scaled-up to 400 m3 by using biotrickling reactors to reduce the phenol level from 407 mg L−1 to below detection limit over 104 days incubation. The results showed that the microbial consortia could also reduce the toxicity of the wastewater while degrading the phenol and lowering the wastewater COD. Further, this approach could be translated into the field without the need for a purpose-built primary treatment facility preventing the generation of excessive biomass and eliminating the need for sludge disposal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical and Life Sciences, Singapore Polytechnic, Singapore, 139651, Singapore

    Gregory Poi

  2. School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA, 5042, Australia

    Gregory Poi & Andrew S. Ball

  3. Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Remediation, School of Science, RMIT University, Bundoora, Victoria, 3083, Australia

    Arturo Aburto-Medina, Andrew S. Ball & Esmaeil Shahsavari

  4. Biomax Technologies Pte Ltd., Singapore, 417939, Singapore

    Puah Chum Mok

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  1. Gregory Poi
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  2. Arturo Aburto-Medina
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  3. Puah Chum Mok
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  4. Andrew S. Ball
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  5. Esmaeil Shahsavari
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Correspondence to Andrew S. Ball.

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Poi, G., Aburto-Medina, A., Mok, P.C. et al. Bioremediation of Phenol-Contaminated Industrial Wastewater Using a Bacterial Consortium—from Laboratory to Field. Water Air Soil Pollut 228, 89 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-017-3273-0

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