TEC-18 AEROBIC TREATMENT OF ALPECHIN BY CANDIDA TROPICALIS

The elimination of the phenolic content of OMW wastewater is an important objective in the search for a method to eliminate its pollutant properties. Biodegradation or enzymatic approaches to removing phenols have been tried for some years as they have several advantages when compared with non-biological methods. Cultures of C. tropicalis grown on phenol solutions were able to utilize this compound as a sole source of energy. This ability was used to reduce the COD and phenol content in samples of OMW at different concentrations. COD and phenol reduction in undiluted samples was 57 % and 41.7 % respectively. Biodegradation was found to increase with dilution. This research showed that C. tropicalis can be satisfactorily used for biodegradation of OMW