Investigation of Biodegradation of Toluene in Suspension Growth Reactor Containing Pseudomonas Putida

Toluene is significant pollutants in the air. Long-term exposure to toluene can lead to adverse effects.  Biofiltration is one of the air pollutant control methods. In this study, Pseudomonas putida was selected as a microorganism capable of hydrocarbon degradation and its ability to biodegrade toluene in a suspension growth reactor was also investigated.

Experiments were conducted in two days and in five hours. Each method consisted of three sample reactors (A, B, C) and one control reactor (D). In the first method, the amount of bacteria in the sample reactors is 0.5, 1 and 2 McFarland and the amount of toluene injection into the reactors is the same (0.5 microliters) and in the second method, the amount of toluene injection into the sample reactors is 0.5, 1 and 1.5 microliter and 1.5 microliter in the control reactor and the amount of bacteria in them was the same (1 McFarland).Toluene gas samples and carbon dioxide were periodically analyzed.

In the first method of toluene decomposition, there was a significant difference between the three reactors (p-value = 0.002). The results of the second method were also significantly different between the three reactors (p-value<0.001). The decomposition of toluene in two methods also had a significant difference (p-value = 0.232). The amount of CO2 production was significantly different in the second method (p-value=0.003) and the first method (p-value<0.001), but no significant difference was observed in the comparison of the two methods (p-value=0.15).

Increasing bacterial in suspension growth reactor resulted in increased toluene biodegradation in shorter time while increasing toluene in suspension growth reactor may not have an additive effect on the biodegradation process.