Effect of temperature on the inhibition kinetics of phenol biodegradation by Pseudomonas putida Q5.

The temperature-dependent performance of mixed-culture wastewater treatment processes may be strongly influenced by their content of psychrotrophic bacteria. In this work, the effect of temperature on cell growth and phenol biodegradation kinetics of the psychrotrophic bacterium Pseudomonas putida Q5 were determined using both batch and continuous cultures in the range of 10-25 degrees C. The Haldane equation was found to be the most suitable substrate-inhibition model for the specific growth rate. The Haldane parameters mu(max) and K(I) were best modeled by a square-root dependency on temperature. However, the Arrhenius model provided a better prediction of the temperature dependence of K(S). The variation of the yield constant with temperature also was studied experimentally. Comparisons with results of previous workers are presented. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.