Abstract

The present research study has been carried out in the waste disposal site for characterization of physical, chemical and biological parameters to assess the microbial consortium present in the contaminated site and to isolate the potential microorganism for biodegradation of Tributyl Phosphate. The ambient conditions present in the contaminated site shows the values: pH (6.61), Temperature (35.6), Moisture (50.72%), Nutrients; Nitrogen (0.41%), Phosphorus (27.87 mg/l), and Sulphur (993.5 mg/l) respectively. The biological parameters studied indicate Dissolved Oxygen (4.58 mg/l), Biological Oxygen Demand (4.62 mg/l), Chemical Oxygen Demand (146.1 mg/l). The microbial consortium identified was found to survive and multiply in the present environment conditions. Microbial consortium was sequenced and compared using BLAST, ClustalW and PHYLIP. In order to identify potential microorganism, microbial consortium was exposed to increasing concentration of Tributyl Phosphate viz. 10, 25, 50, 75, 100 mg/l in MSM, the potential microorganism was found to survive at higher concentration and utilized it as a sole source of carbon. This organism was   identified as Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes strain DSM 50018T using 16S rRNA sequencing. This organism was found to have high potential for degradation of Tributyl Phosphate present in Low Level Nuclear Waste.

Key words: Tributyl phosphate (TBP), low level nuclear waste, 16S rRNA sequencing, industrial effluent, biodegradation.