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Experimental Study of Biodegradation of Ethanol and Toluene Vapors

Experimental Study of Biodegradation of Ethanol and Toluene Vapors

Experimental Study of Biodegradation of Ethanol and Toluene Vapors

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ABSTRACT<br />

The mass transfer <strong>of</strong> ethanol <strong>and</strong> toluene from air stream to liquid phase, <strong>and</strong><br />

bioremediation <strong>of</strong> contaminated air streams containing either ethanol or toluene have<br />

been investigated using a stirred tank bioreactor. This investigation was conducted in<br />

six phases:<br />

1) mass transfer experiments involving the transport <strong>of</strong> toluene <strong>and</strong> ethanol<br />

from contaminated air streams into the liquid phase,<br />

2) study <strong>of</strong> air stripping effects <strong>of</strong> ethanol <strong>and</strong> toluene out <strong>of</strong> the liquid phase,<br />

3) batch growth experiments to determine growth kinetic models <strong>and</strong> model<br />

parameters,<br />

4) bioremediation <strong>of</strong> ethanol or toluene as the sole substrate to determine the<br />

capacity <strong>of</strong> Pseudomonas putida (P. putida) (ATCC 23973) growth on these<br />

substrates,<br />

5) toluene removal from contaminated air streams using ethanol <strong>and</strong> benzyl<br />

alcohol as co-substrates, <strong>and</strong><br />

6) modelling the above studies using metabolic pathways to better underst<strong>and</strong><br />

the bioremediation process.<br />

Preliminary oxygen mass transfer studies showed that the presence <strong>of</strong> ethanol in<br />

the liquid phase enhances the overall oxygen mass transfer coefficients. Increasing the<br />

ethanol concentration from 0 to 8 g/L caused the oxygen mass transfer coefficients to<br />

increase from 0.015 to 0.049 s -1 , <strong>and</strong> from 0.017 to 0.076 s -1 , for impeller speeds <strong>of</strong> 450<br />

ii

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