Degradation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons by mixed culture isolated from oil contaminated soil—A bioprocess engineering study

Abstract

In the present investigation, decomposition of polyaromatic hydrocarbons was studied using mixed culture. Mixed strains were isolated from soil of petrol stations of different Indian cities and the best performing strains from these sources were used for subsequent bioprocess study using simulated mixture of anthracene and naphthalene as carbon source in methanol solution. The cell growth curve and substrate depletion time history curve obtained from batch fermentative process show that the reaction engineering behaviour of the systems under study can well be represented by classical substrate uninhibited Monod’s model. In a separate attempt the intrinsic kinetic parameters μmax and Ks were evaluated following differential analysis of experimental data.