Bioremediation of organic pollutants in a radioactive wastewater

Conference · Sun Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2007

OSTI ID:21156265

Oboirien, Bilainu; Molokwane, P E; Chirwa, Evans ^[1]

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1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Pretoria, Pretoria (South Africa)

Bioremediation holds the promise as a cost effective treatment technology for a wide variety of hazardous pollutants. In this study, the biodegradation of organic compounds discharged together with radioactive wastes is investigated. Nuclear process wastewater was simulated by a mixture of phenol and strontium, which is a major radionuclide found in radioactive wastewater. Phenol was used in the study as a model compound due to its simplicity of molecular structure. Moreover, the biodegradation pathway of phenol is well known. Biodegradation studies were conducted using pure cultures of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas putida. The rate of phenol degradation by both species was found to be higher in the test without strontium. This suggests some degree of inhibition in the degradation of phenol by strontium. There was no phenol degradation in the sterile controls. The results indicate the feasibility of the biodegradation of organic pollutants discharged in radioactive effluents by specialised microbial cultures. (authors)

• Research Organization: American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Three Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016-5990 (United States); Technological Institute of the Royal Flemish Society of Engineers (TI-K VIV), Het Ingenieurshuis, Desguinlei 214, 2018 Antwerp (Belgium); Belgian Nuclear Society (BNS) - ASBL-VZW, c/o SCK-CEN, Avenue Hermann Debrouxlaan, 40 - B-1160 Brussels (Belgium)
• OSTI ID: 21156265
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
BIODEGRADATION
BIOREMEDIATION
MOLECULAR STRUCTURE
PHENOL
POLLUTANTS
PSEUDOMONAS
RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS
RADIOISOTOPES
STRONTIUM
WASTE WATER