Abstract—Batch experiments were carried out to examine the biomass acclimatization during the aerobic biodegradation of 2, 4 dichlorophenol (2, 4 DCP) by
Pseudomonas putida immobilized in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) gel pellets in a bubble column bioreactor. The bacteria was acclimatized to 2, 4 DCP with concentrations of up to 200 mg/l, with and without the addition of glucose. After the acclimatization, experiments were carried out with initial 2, 4 DCP concentrations ranging from 25 to 100 mg/l. In the course of the study, a phenomenon was noticed that can be related to the effect of carbon starvation on the biodegradation ability of the bacterial cells. This paper presents the results on this phenomenon. Starved cells showed higher growth and degradation rates.
Index Terms—Biodegradation, Phenol, 2, 4 dichlorophenol, acclimatization, adaptation, starvation.
The authors are with the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, UAE University, UAE (e-mail: tkhalid@ uaeu.ac.ae, muftah@ uaeu.ac.ae).
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Cite: Taghreed T. Al-Khalid and Muftah H. El-Naas, "Transient Behavior in Biodegradation of 2, 4 Dichlorophenol: Is It a Starvation Effect?," International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications vol. 4, no. 6, pp. 365-368, 2013.
