Microbial Degradation of Phenol:A Comparitive Study

Abstract

Phenol is one of the most common toxic environmental pollutants that originate mainly from industrial processes. It is a recalcitrant and hazardous compound, which is toxic at relatively low concentration and hence, USEPA has set a limit of 0.1mg/L of phenol as the permissible limit in the water bodies. It must be removed from the environment. The biodegradation methods for the treatment of phenol contaminated wastewater are more effective and less costly. The use of microbial catalysts in the purpose has advanced significantly during the past three decades and it has been found that large numbers of microbes coexist in almost all natural environments, particularly in soils.Most of the studies were done on the indigenous microbes isolated from the contaminated sites of industrial effluents and waste waters.But often the phenol contamination due to other sources has been overlooked by the scientific community. It is a well known fact that phenol is the major component of most of the disinfectant in recent time.Hence phenol contamination due to hospital wastes and sewage is a common problem in the water bodies located in the nearby areas. In the present study, a novel strain named Pseudomonas sp. NBM11 isolated from the soil contaminated with phenol from hospital waste was investigated for its biodegradation potential.