Isolation and Identification of Phenol Degrading Bacteria from Effluent Treatment Plant of Petrochemical Industry in Kerala

During the last few decades, an array of foreign compounds has been introduced into the environment due to the revolution of industrial field. Micro-organisms plays a major role for saving our environment by degrading xenobiotic compounds and chemicals wastes, which are toxic either in their native form or modified into toxic substances. Phenol is one of the most common toxic environmental pollutants among various substances produced and released into the environment as a result of various industrial activities. Isolation of microbial strain capable of degrading chemical compounds can be achieved from polluted sources, such as soil and water. The increasing phenol and phenol wastes necessitates the screening of bacteria that are able to degrade phenol. The objective of the study was to isolate and identify the phenol degrading bacteria from effluent treatment plant of petrochemical industry. In this study, the effluent samples were collected from effluent treatment plant of petrochemical industry, Kerala and the bacterial strains capable of degrading phenol were isolated. The cultures were subjected to phenol tolerance level in medium containing different concentrations of phenol (200ppm to 1000ppm). Total phenol content and growth rates were observed for 24 to 96 hrs of incubation for all the five selected strains. From this preliminary observation, among the selected, the most potent strains were Neisseria sp and Micrococcus sp. The effects of temperature and pH on the growth of these strains were also observed. Outcome of this study offer a useful guideline in evaluating potential phenol degraders from the environment which can be isolated and cultured in large scale and can be used for the waste management.