Studies on factors influencing the biodegradation of pentachlorphenol by a mixed bacterial culture

Abstract

Abstract Augmentation of a pentachlorophenol (PCP)/salts medium with glucose and peptone dramatically increased rate and extent of PCP degradation. Over a 6-day incubation period, 80% of the initial PCP was degraded. The PCP degradation rate was further accelerated by prior acclination of the mixed culture inoculum for 2–3 days in the same culture medium. This acclination protocol reduced the lag phase for PCP degradation and eliminated up to 86.5% of the PCP after 3 days. PCP biodegradation increased substantially when the mixed culture inoculum size was increased from 10 4 to 10 5 cells ml −1 of degradation medium. The mixed culture was shown to mineralize radiolabelled PCP. When the relative capacity of the mixed culture to degrade di-, tri-, tetra- and pentachlorophenol was compared, rate of PCP degradation was slower than for lower chlorinated phenols.