Biodegradation of p-chlorophenol by a microalgae consortium

• Author(s): Lima, Sofia A. C. ; Raposo, M. F. ; Castro, Paula M.L. ; Morais, R. M. S. C.
• Date: 2004
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/3475
• Origin: Veritati - Repositório Institucional da Universidade Católica Portuguesa
• Subject(s): Adsorption; Biodegradation; P-chlorophenol; Microalgae; Zeolite
• Document Type: Article
• Language: English

Description

An aquatic communitywas recovered from a waste discharge container fed with several aromatic pollutants. After 3 months of selective enrichment with p-chlorophenol and p-nitrophenol, two microalgae species, Chlorella vulgaris and Coenochloris pyrenoidosa, were recovered from the microbial consortium. As an axenic culture, this microalgae consortium was able to remove p-chlorophenol under different photo-regimes. Cultures grown under a 24 h light regime were capable of biodegrading 50mg l 1 of p-chlorophenol within 5 days. Addition of zeolite, an adsorbing material, did not improve the p-chlorophenol removal. However, when p-chlorophenol at 150mg l 1 was fed to the culture supplemented with zeolite, the growth rate of the consortium improved, but the lag phase was longer (16 against 14 days in the absence of zeolite).