Kinetic study of carbazole degradation by free and immobilized Thalassospira profundimaris

Abstract

Carbazole, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), is a hazardous compound and a pollutant that can mainly be found in the petroleum industry. This pollutant can be treated in many ways and one of it is known as bioremediation. A method of using degrading-cell-organism, Thalassospira profundimaris, that is able to consume the pollutant as its food source and produce metabolite, harmless substance in exchange, splits into two ways which are using the cell as free cell and the other is using it as immobilized cell. There are many factors that are affecting the performance of the cell degradation. In this study, initial concentration of carbazole and agitation speed parameters have been tested and kinetic models built based on the results of this study. This study found that in term of initial concentration of carbazole, the performance of degradation cell is better on immobilized cell but not so significant based on kinetic models built. However, addition of good mixing quality enhanced the degradation performance significantly when the agitation speed is in range of 100 revolution per minute (rpm) and below.