A study of external mass transfer effect on biodegradation of phenol using low-density polyethylene immobilized Bacillus flexus GS1 IIT (BHU) in a packed bed bioreactor

Abstract

The impact of external mass transport on the biodegradation rate of phenol in a packed bed bioreactor (PBBR) was studied. A potential bacterial species, Bacillus flexus GS1 IIT (BHU), was isolated from the petroleum-contaminated soil. Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) immobilized with the B. flexus GS1 IIT (BHU) was used as packing material in the PBBR. The PBBR was operated by varying the inlet feed flow rate from 4 to 10 mL/min, and the corresponding degradation rate coefficients were found to be in the range of 0.119–0.157 L/g h. In addition, the highest removal rate of phenol was obtained to be 1.305 mg/g h at an inlet feed rate of 10 mL/min. The external mass transfer was studied using the model (Formula presented.). A new empirical correlation (Formula presented.) for the biodegradation of phenol in the PBBR was developed after the evaluation at various values of K and n. © 2020 CIWEM