Treatment of wastewater containing high concentrations of terephthalic acid by Comamonas sp. and Rhodococcus sp.: kinetic and stoichiometric characterization

Abstract

In this work, terephthalic acid degradation was studied with two strains that were isolated and identified as closely related to Comamonas (99%) and Rhodococcus (99%) genus. A characterization of both strains was carried out during batch experiments performed at two oxygen transfer capacities (0.094 ± 0.011 and 0.538 ± 0.042 g O2/L/h) and five concentrations of terephthalic acid (2.5 to 15.0 g/L). Maximum degradation rates of 0.073 ± 0.004 and 0.062 ± 0.003 g TOC/L/h, were observed, for Comamonas sp. and Rhodococcus sp., respectively. However, a degradation rate of 0.159 ± 0.011 g TOC/L/h was reached with a mixed culture. Haldane, Aiba, Edwards and Andrews models were used to fit terephthalic acid degradation kinetics, being Haldane the model that best fitted the results. Several parameters were determined including, maximum growth rate, growth yield, substrate affinity and inhibition constant.

Enzymes as Enhancers for the Biodegradation of Synthetic Polymers in Wastewater

“…In this case, the determined release products, terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, are not regarded to be toxic. Further biodegradation/mineralization of the release products, that is, terephthalic acid, ethylene glycol, and poly(ethylene glycol)s, has already been demonstrated and was, therefore, not included in the scope of the study. For example, a pilot plant with mixed cultures isolated from a WWTP was proven to eliminate more than 99 % of terephthalic acid from wastewater, and polyethylene glycols have also been demonstrated to be readily biodegraded under simulated freshwater conditions with WWTP sludge as inoculum .…”

Bioremoval of graffiti using novel commercial strains of bacteria

“…Similarly, Bac_4 (Comamonas sp.) has been found to associate with wall paintings (Pinar et al, 2013) and is able to degrade the precursor of paints in wastewater (Ordaz-Cortes et al, 2014). Bac_3 is a mixture of Bacillus sp., Delftia lacustris, Sphingobacterium caeni, and Ochrobactrum anthropi.…”

Synthesis of an Epoxy Toughening Curing Agent through Modification of Terephthalic Acid Sludge Waste

“…This wastewater includes organically produced wastes [1], particularly PTA, with a chemical oxygen demand of 20.5 kg m −3 . Various studies have investigated effective methods for the removal of PTA from effluents [2], including acceptable approaches, such as acid deposition, sorption, and coagulation [3], and both aerobic and anaerobic biotreatment [4][5][6][7][8][9]. However, these methods have limitations in treating contaminants with a high terephthalic acid (TA) content.…”