Mixed Culture Acclimatization and Biodegradation of Chlorophenols in Shake Flasks: Effect of the Inoculum Source

Abstract

Shake flask reactors with different inocula were run for the treatment of chlorophenols present in wastewaters. The three different inocula were obtained from—sewage treatment plant, refinery effluent treatment plant (ETP), and paper mill ETP, respectively. The model compounds tested were 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) and 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP). The three inocula have different levels of exposure to phenolic compounds. As the paper mill effluent has high level of phenolic compounds, and sewage has no phenolic compound, the inoculum obtained from paper mill ETP would have been acclimatized to some degree to phenolic environment. In our lab, the inocula were acclimatized to synthetic 4-CP and 2,4-DCP for several weeks at