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Enhanced Cometabolic Transformation of 4‐Chlorophenol in the Presence of Phenol by Granular Activated Carbon Adsorption
Author(s) -
Loh KaiChee,
Wang Ye
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.5450840212
Subject(s) - chemistry , phenol , cometabolism , adsorption , activated carbon , nuclear chemistry , biodegradation , chromatography , organic chemistry , bacteria , biology , bioremediation , genetics
Substrate inhibitions that manifest within the cometabolism system of 4‐chlorophenol (4‐cp) and phenol were alleviated through the application of granular activated carbon (GAC) in batch biodegradation. It was found that 4‐cp was preferentially adsorbed over phenol by the GAC and that 50% to 70% of the adsorption was achieved within the first two hours of contact. The kinetics of 4‐cp adsorption was also much faster than that of phenol, even when the co‐existing phenol was of a significantly higher initial concentration. As a result, competitive inhibition between the two compounds was minimized. Adsorption also caused a lowering of the phenol concentration in solution with a concomitant reduction in the substrate inhibition effect on cell growth. The addition of GAC benefited the biotransformation process through shortening the total degradation time for 600 mg L −1 phenol and 100 mg L −1 4‐cp from 42 h to 12 h; and it also made it possible for cells to survive and transform 600 mg L −1 phenol and as high as 400 mg L −1 4‐cp in free suspension cultures. Repeated operations in which GAC was reused showed that GAC could be regenerated by the cells, thus rendering the GAC incorporated process amenable to long term operations.