Pesticide removal by the bioaugmentation process in secondary treated wastewater

Abstract

Abstract The work was focused on the effect of the bioaugmentation process on STWW contaminated by pentachlorophenol (PCP: 100 mg L−1) by Pseudomonas putida AE015451. The monitoring of bioaugmentation treatments was assessed by chloride content determination via high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), optical density (OD) for microbial biomass determination, and pyoverdine and biofilm production. The process of bioaugmentation by a PGPR Pseudomonas strain showed a high-efficiency removal rate of PCP (100 mg L−1). The contaminant decreased up to 92% after 168 h. The production of pyoverdine and the formation of bacterial biofilm by the strain Ps. putida AE015451 showed an important role in tolerating the toxicity of PCP by using it as a carbon source. The obtained result proved that the pyoverdine production and biofilm formation help the Pseudomonas bacteria to tolerate to the stressed condition as pesticide. Moreover, the co-existence of the iron and PCP molecule ameliorate its biodegradation.