Abstract
This study explored the development of immobilized microorganism carriers for pyrene degradation. Two bacterial strains Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kp) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa), along with bacterial consortium were cultured for 14 d. Powdered activated carbon (PAC), binder CaCl2, and sodium alginate (SA) were used as beads to immobilize the bacterial consortium for improving the degradation effects of the pyrene. Removal rate, mass transfer properties, embedding ratio, crosslinking time, pH, and temperature effects on Pyrene removal efficiency were studied for the immobilized particles. The obtained results indicate that the removal rate of pyrene was reached up to 91.6 %, which improved 89.26 % with compared to the control conditions. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) characterization showed that the PAC has increased more porous structure in the immobilization SA beads, which was responsible for maintaining bacterial activity and improving mass transferability. PAC added SA immobilization can enhance the effect of pyrene degradation by improving the bacterial absorption ability and nutrient permeability.
