Résumé
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are precarious persistent pollutants derived from incomplete combustion of fossil fuel and petroleum products. Due to adverse effects of PAHs on the environment, the wastewater contaminated with PAHs needs to be treated prior to discharge in the water bodies. In the present study, we used immobilized polyurethane foam Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes NRSS3 for degradation of fluorene in packed bed bioreactor (PBBR) to stimulate biofilm and possibly enhance removal efficiency. The most affecting process parameters, such as pH, process time and temperature were optimized at batch mode and found to be 7.0, 8.0 days, and 30 °C, respectively. At the optimum condition, the bioreactor was operated in continuous mode up to 45 days and obtained results demonstrate that the maximum removal efficiency (RE) of 91.1% along with 27.3 mg/L day-1 of elimination capacity (EC) were observed. Biodegradation kinetics of fluorene were evaluated by Monod growth and Andrew-Haldane inhibition models and parameters were obtained to be µmax: 0.32 day-1; Ks: 10.8 mg/L by Monod while µmax: 0.47 day-1; Ks: 12.3 mg/L; 27.5 mg/L by Andrews-Haldane.