• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.141-148
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• 2015

The presence of phenols in treated palm oil mill effluent (POME) is an environmental concern due to their phytotoxicity and antimicrobial activity. In this study, phenol-degrading bacteria, Methylobacterium sp. NP3 and Acinetobacter sp. PK1 were immobilized on oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFBs) for removal of phenols in the treated POME. The bacterial exopolysaccharides (EPS) were responsible for cell adhesion to the EFBs during the immobilization process. These immobilized bacteria could effectively remove up to 5,000 mg/L phenol in a carbon free mineral medium (CFMM) with a greater degradation efficiency and rate than that with suspended bacteria. To increase the efficiency of the immobilized bacteria, three approaches, namely activation, acclimation, and combined activation and acclimation were applied. The most convenient and efficient strategy was found when the immobilized bacteria were activated in a CFMM containing phenol for 24 h before biotreatment of the treated POME. These activated immobilized bacteria were able to remove about 63.4% of 33 mg/L phenols in the treated POME, while non-activated and/or acclimated immobilized bacteria could degrade only 35.0%. The activated immobilized bacteria could be effectively reused for at least ten application cycles and stored for 4 weeks at $4^{\circ}C$ with the similar activities. In addition, the utilization of the abundant EFBs gives value-added to the palm oil mill wastes and is environmentally friendly thus making it is attractive for practical application.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 1996

For the purpose of development of bioremediation technology for soil contaminated by chlorinated phenols, this study was focused on the isolation and characterization of bacteria capable of degrading chlorinated phenols, the establishment of analytical methods for chlorinated phenols, and the investigation of the contaminated sites. One site near the Incheon Industrial Complex was identified as a pentachlorophenol (PCP)-contaminated spot. The soil brought from the PCP-contaminated site contained 10-100$mu\textrm{g}$/g wet soil of PCP. Many bacterial strains capable of growing on a minimal medium containing PCP were isolated from 15 soil samples collected throughout the land, and among them, 10 active isolates were finally selected for the further studies on the biodegradability and for the use in in situ bioremediation of contaminated soil. These isolates showed species-specific pattern in PCP-decrease and cell growth in a minimal medium containing 500-1,000mg/ιPCP. Strain Bul degraded 90% of PCP at 216 hrs after incubation. Expecially, strain Bu34 was capable of degrading 4,000mg/ι PCP and was identified as Pseudomonas putida Bu34. It is seemed that the isolated active bacteria could be effectively used for the bioremediation of PCP-contaminated sites.