Enhancement of Styrene Removal byPseudomonassp. SR-5 in Mixed Culture with a Benzoic Acid-Degrading Bacterium in Biofilter

Abstract

The growth of a styrene-degrading bacterium, Pseudomonas sp. SR-5, was inhibited by benzoic acid (BA), one of the styrene degradation intermediates, in liquid culture. A benzoic acid-degrading microorganism, Raoultella sp. strain A, was isolated from a peat biofilter inoculated with a wastewater. The styrene removal efficiencies of the two laboratory-scale biofilters inoculated with only strain SR-5 and a mixed culture of strains SR-5 and A were compared using a mixed packing material of peat and ceramic (1:1) for 45 days. The biofilter with the mixed culture showed a higher removal efficiency than that with a single culture of SR-5. The maximum elimination capacities of the biofilters with the mixed culture and the single culture were 141 g m(-3)h(-1) and 106 g m(-3)h(-1), respectively. In the biofilter with the single culture, 136 g of benzoic acid (m3 of dry packing material)(-1) was accumulated at the end of the experiment. However, no accumulation of benzoic acid was observed in the biofilter with the mixed culture.

Investigating bacterial populations in styrene-degrading biofilters by 16S rDNA tag pyrosequencing

“…Most of the previous studies examining the degradation of styrene gas through biofiltration have focused on using either one or a few styrene-degrading bacterial (Okamoto et al 2003 ; Iwanade et al 2005 ; Jung and Park 2005 ; Jang et al 2005 , 2006 ) or fungal strains (Cox et al 1997 ; Qi et al 2002 ; Rene et al 2010a , b , 2011 ) as the inoculum for biofilters. A few studies have identified several bacterial taxonomic groups from styrene-degrading biofilters with an organic packing material using cultivation-based techniques (Arnold et al 1997 ) and FISH (Friedrich et al 1999 ).…”

Microbial community analysis in biotrickling filters treating isopropanol air emissions

“…This could be explained by the fact that Mycobacterium is better protected against stressful periods without substrates and nutrients, due to the characteristics of its cell membrane. Regarding Pseudomonas sp., a common species in environments rich in VOCs [29][30][31], several issues can be highlighted. As seen in Figure 5, the observed percentage of Pseudomonas sp.…”

“…Mycobacterium were the targeted species monitored since previous studies have indicated that these species play an important role in VOC degradation [28][29][30][31][32].…”