African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12487

Full Length Research Paper

Biodegradation of phenol by free and encapsulated cells of a new Aspergillus sp. isolated from a contaminated site in southern Brazi

Cátia Tavares dos Passos1, Mariano Michelon1, Janaína Fernandes de Medeiros Burkert1, Susana Juliano Kalil2 and Carlos André Veiga Burkert1*
1Bioprocess Engineering Laboratory, Federal University of Rio Grande, 96201-900, Rio Grande, RS, Brazil. 2Microbiology Laboratory, Federal University of Rio Grande, 96201-900, Rio Grande, RS, Brazil.
Email: [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 16 July 2010
  •  Published: 04 October 2010

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the biodegradation performance of phenol by using free and encapsulated cells of a new Aspergillus sp. strain isolated from a crude oil contaminated soil in southern Brazil. In batch cultures, maximum degradation rates were not significantly different between free and encapsulated cells, but a decrease in adaptation time for encapsulated ones was observed. This fact indicates the presence of a microenvironment that is more favorable to biodegradation inside encapsulated cells, because of the protector effect of gel matrix, which reduces abiotic stress. Encapsulated filamentous fungus Aspergillussp. LEBM2 showed a promising application in bioaugmentation processes, reaching maximum phenol degradation rate of 7.71 ± 0.21 mg/l.h for an initial phenol concentration of 500 mg/l.

 

Key words: Bioremediation, bioaugmentation, immobilization, phenol, filamentous fungi.

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This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0

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