Bioaugmentation: an effective commercial technology for the removal of phenols from wastewater

Abstract

Phenol represents a huge problem in industrial wastewater effluents and needs to be removed due to its toxic and carcinogenic nature. The removal of phenol from the wastewater is often both expensive and time consuming; there is therefore a requirement for a more effective, sustainable solution for the removal of phenol from wastewaters.Bioaugmentation or the addition of phenol degrading microorganisms to contaminated effluents is one such sustainable approach being considered. Here, we describe how bioaugmentation has been applied for the biological treatment of phenol in industrial wastewaters.

Synthetic Microbial Community for the Bioremediation of Petroleum Contamination

“…Chen isolated seven crude oil degrading bacteria and constructed a synthetic microbial community specific for degrading viscous oil using three microorganisms out of seven. A mixed microbial consortia was applied to degrade phenol using 22 phenol degraders [13,14]. Tao used an indigenous bacterial co-culture with exogenous Bacillus subtilis to enhance the biodegradation of crude oil [15].…”