Affiliations: National Engineering Research Centre for Distillation
Technology, College of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University,
Tianjin 300072, China
Abstract: Functional microorganisms to high concentration phenol containing
Cr^{6+} and Pb^{2+} were cultured and
biofilm was formed on polypropylene packings in bioelectro-reactor. It was
found that the biodegradation capability of such biofilm to phenol changed with
the applied voltage. Under the optimal electric field conditions (voltage of
3.0 V, electric field of strength 17.7 V/m and current density of 1.98
A/m^2), biodegradation efficiency of phenol aof
concentration of 1200 mg/L increased 33% compared to the instance without
applying electric field. However, voltage had inverse effect on biodegradation,
as microorganisms were killed under strong electric field. Voltage had little
effect on heavy ions elimination. Higher absorption rate of
Cr^{6+} and Pb^{2+} was observed when
changing pH from acidic to neutral. The experiment results indicated that,
after treatment, 10 L phenol of 2400 mg/L was biodegraded completely within 55
h and concentrations of Cr^{6+} and
Pb^{2+} dropped to less than 1 mg/L within 12 h and 6 h,
from initial values of 50 mg/L and 30 mg/L, respectively.
Keywords: biofilm, biodegradation, phenol, heavy ions, electric field, reactor
