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