Research Articles
Phenol degradation by Acinetobacter sp. in the presence of heavy metals
Authors:
SA Ahmad ,
MY
About SA
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia.
NA Shamaan,
MY
About NA
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
MA Syed,
MY
About MA
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia.
FA Dahalan,
MY
About FA
The School of Environmental Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Perlis, Malaysia.
K Abdul Khalil,
MY
About K Abdul
Biomolecular Science Program, School of Biology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor, Malaysia.
NA Ab Rahman,
MY
About NA
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia.
MY Shukor
MY
About MY
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of Acinetobacter sp. strain AQ5NOL 1 immobilised in gellan gum beads to degrade phenol in the presence of heavy metals. Seven different heavy metals, namely, As5+, Cu2+, Cd2+, Ni2+, Cr6+, Pb2+, and Hg2+ at 1 ppm were tested. Results of the study showed that degradation of phenol by free cells was inhibited by Hg2+, Cu2+ and Cr6+ after 48 hours of incubation by 97.91 %, 77.58 % and 75.26 %, respectively. Only Hg2+ and Cr6+ inhibited phenol degradation by immobilised Acinetobacter cells in 18 hours by 67.55 % and 53.19 %. Phenol degradation by immobilised cells was affected when Cr6+ and Hg2+ concentrations exceeded 0.5 and 0.1 ppm, respectively. However, inhibitory effects of heavy metals can be overcome by prolonging the incubation time for immobilised Acinetobacter sp. strain AQ5NOL 1 from 18 hours to 24 and 30 hours for Cr6+ (46.80 %) and Hg2+ (21.40 %), respectively.
How to Cite:
Ahmad, S. et al., (2017). Phenol degradation by Acinetobacter sp. in the presence of heavy metals. Journal of the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka. 45(3), pp.247–253. DOI: http://doi.org/10.4038/jnsfsr.v45i3.8189
Published on
26 Sep 2017.
Peer Reviewed
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