SH Norouzimanesh - School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O.Box ۱۱۱۵۵-۴۵۶۳, Tehran, Iran
M.H Sarrafzadeh - School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O.Box ۱۱۱۵۵-۴۵۶۳, Tehran, Iran
M.R Rouini - Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
M Khakbaz Varkani - School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O.Box ۱۱۱۵۵-۴۵۶۳, Tehran, Iran

Biological degradation of phenol by Alcaligenes faecalis with high biodegradation activity and high tolerance was investigated at 25C. Phenol could be utilized by the bacteria as the sole carbon and energy sources. The cell growth and substrate degradation of phenol as single substrates for Alcaligenes faecalis in batch cultures (shaking flasks) were investigated at different initial phenol concentrations. Phenol was observed to be an inhibitory compound. Particularly, when free cells grew on a high concentration of phenol, substrate inhibition was observed and the higher the concentration of phenol, the longer was the lag period. The lag time and whole required time for phenol biodegradation was considerably decreased by immobilized cells due to improvement of cells resistance against high Phenol concentration by cell immobilization compared to free cells. Required time for completely degrade initial phenol of 700 and 1000 ppm by free and immobilized cells is 56, 101 and 35, 72 hours respectively. These results indicate that immobilized Alcaligenes faecalis possesses a good application potential in the treatment of phenol-containing wastewater.

biodegradation, phenol, immobilization, cells resistance