Simultaneous removal of phenol and cyanide from aqueous solution by co-culture of strain immobilized onto coconut shell activated carbon

Abstract

In this study, the simultaneous biosorption and bioaccumulation of phenol and cyanide by co-culture/mixed culture of Pseudomonas putida (MTCC 1144) and Serratia odorifera (MTCC 5700) strains immobilized onto coconut shell activated carbon (CSAC) were investigated. The batch experiments were performed for the elimination of phenol and cyanide from mono and binary aqueous solution using initial concentrations of phenol (100–1,000 mg/L) and cyanide (10–100 mg/L). Under optimum conditions, the CSAC was demonstrated a biosorption capacity 500.55 mg/g of phenol and 2.41 mg/g of cyanide at pH 8, biomass dose 30 g/L and temperature 30°C. In a binary component system among six multicomponent isotherms, extended Freundlich model indicates a better fit for both phenol and cyanide. Moreover, the kinetic experimental results show that both phenol and cyanide were defined by the pseudo-first-order kinetic model. Thermodynamic study was established that the simultaneous biosorption and bioaccumulation of phenol indicates the exothermic nature of the process and cyanide indicates the endothermic nature of the process.

Keywords:

• Co-culture
• Cyanide
• Phenol
• Multicomponent isotherm
• Kinetics
• Thermodynamics

Acknowledgment

The authors acknowledge deepest thanks to Department of chemical engineering, and Institute Instrumentation Center, IITR, Roorkee, India, for providing technical support and facilities. The authors would also like to thank to Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD, New Delhi), Government of India for funding this research work.