Simultaneous biodegradation of phenol and cyanide present in coke-oven effluent using immobilized Pseudomonas putida and Pseudomonas stutzeri

ABSTRACT Discharge of coke-oven wastewater to the environment may cause severe contamination to it and also threaten the flora and fauna, including human beings. Hence before dumping it is necessary to treat this dangerous effluent in order to minimize the damage to the environment. Conventional technologies have inherent drawbacks however, biological treatment is an advantageous alternative method. In the present study, bacteria were isolated from the soil collected from the sites contaminated by coke-oven effluent rich in phenol and cyanide. Nucleotides sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis showed the identity of the selected phenol and cyanide degrading isolates NAUN-16 and NAUN-1B as Pseudomonas putida and Pseudomonas stutzeri, respectively. These two isolates tolerated phenol up to 1800 mg L-1 and cyanide up to 340 mg L-1 concentrations. The isolates were immobilized on activated charcoal, saw dust and fly ash. The effluent was passed through the column packed with immobilized cells with a flow rate of 5 mL min-1. The isolates showed degradation of phenol up to 80.5% and cyanide up to 80.6% and also had the ability to reduce biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand and lower the pH of effluent from alkaline to near neutral. The study suggests the utilization of such potential bacterial strains in treating industrial effluent containing phenol and cyanide, before being thrown in any ecosystem.

Analysis of water quality parameters of River Ganga during Maha Kumbha, Haridwar, India.

This study represents the summary of the water quality of River Ganga during mass bathing in Haridwar during Maha Kumbha of 2010 in terms of microbiological and molecular analysis. The sample was collected from River Ganga during Makar Sankranti to Shakh Poornima and assessed for fecal indicator bacteria Escherichia coli along with Standard Plate Count (SPC) to determine total bacterial load in the river. Of all the nine days of sample collection (mass bathing days) results on the main royal bath (Baisakhi) displayed maximum SPC (log 6.79 cfu ml-1) and most probable number (210 and 150 MPN 100 ml-1 for total and fecal coli form, respectively). The water was extremely contaminated and not suitable for drinking on Somvati Amavasya, Maghi Poornima, Maha Shivratri and Baisakhi. The results clearly indicated that the mass bathing coupled with ritual activities performed by bathers was most probable cause of increased values of different parameters. The polymerase chain reaction analysis targeting malate dehydrogenase (mdh) gene proved to be more rapid and sensitive than classical culture techniques.