Aerobic Biodegradation Of Naphthalene

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are widespread pollutants in theenvironment known for their toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic properties. ThirteenPAHs, including naphthalene, are listed as priority pollutants by the U.S. EPA. In thisstudy, the volatilization model of naphthalene was explored and aerobic sludge from awastewater treatment plant was incubated to biodegrade naphthalene as sole carbonsource. Researches on the naphthalene adsorption and the biodegradation kinetics byacclimated aerobacteria were performed. In addition, two bacterial strains wereisolated and bioaugmentation combined with immobilized cells technique was alsoinvestigated in this experiment.Under the conditions of this experiment, the mass transfer coefficient ofnaphthalene from the water phase was obtained by combining the experimental resultswith the theoretical formula.The results gained in the adsorption experiments demonstrated that theadsorption of naphthalene by aerobic activated sludge could be described as bothLangmuir isothermal curve and Frendlich isothermal curve. The experimental results showed that naphthalene biodegradation met firstorder kinetics, and the reaction rate constant were 0.0824h-1,0.1302 h-1 respectivelywhen VSS=100mg/L and VSS=200mg/L.Two bacterial strains were isolated in this research.Finally, some quantitive studies about bioaugmentation combined withimmobilized cells technique were done for the removal of naphthalene fromwastewater.