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Kinetics of the simultaneous batch degradation of p-cresol and phenol by Pseudomonas putida

  • Environmental Microbiology
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Summary

The kinetics of the batch degradation of phenol and p-cresol in a dual-substrate system by Pseudomonas putida was investigated. A model was developed which was able to successfully predict phenol and p-cresol levels during batch growth. A constant specific growth rate (μ) was assumed together with the assumption that the biomass yield factors (Y) for growth on phenol and p-cresol were identical. These simplifying assumptions allowed an analytical solution to the model equations to be easily obtained, as well as reducing the number of unknown parameters that required estimation. Phenol and p-cresol were metabolized simultaneously by P. putida. P. putida did not appear to metabolize either of the two substrates preferentially. The rate of utilization of aparticular organic substrate was related to its fraction of the total organic substrate present, i.e., for substrate 1 the assimilation rate depended on S 1/(S 1+S 2), where S iis the concentration of the ith substrate.

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Abbreviations

k 1 :

rate constant (l mg-1 h-1)

k 2 :

rate constant (h-1)

k s :

substrate saturation constant (mg/l)

s :

substrate concentration (mg/l)

t :

time (h)

x :

biomass concentration, dry basis (mg/l)

Y :

biomass yield factor (g biomass produced/g substrate consumed)

μ:

specific growth rate

μ:

(l/x)(dx/dt) (h-1)

μm :

maximum specific growth rate (h-1)

i :

chemical species (i=1, 2)

0:

initial value

1:

substrate 1 (phenol)

2:

substrate 2 (p-cresol)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    David H. Hutchinson & Campbell W. Robinson

Authors
  1. David H. Hutchinson
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  2. Campbell W. Robinson
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Additional information

This work was supported by a research grant and a scholarship (to DHH) from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

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Hutchinson, D.H., Robinson, C.W. Kinetics of the simultaneous batch degradation of p-cresol and phenol by Pseudomonas putida . Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 29, 599–604 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00260991

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00260991

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