Iranian Journal of

Backgrounds and Objectives: Shortage of available water resource and deficiency of rainfall, increasing in population growth and industrial development, suitable use of water resources and pollution prevention is an essential issue in accord with sustainable development and environmental protection. Present study shows the qualitative status ofMehran River and determines its pollution or non pollution tomunicipal wastewater and to assess qualitative characteristics of the water according to international water quality index.
Materials and Methods:Padding strand of MEHRAN River from source to end has been done for wistful determination of branches, runoff and wastewater entrances, etc. Necessary decisions were made for determining sampling points and critical and effective points on water quality then water samples were analyzed to determine chemical and microbiological characteristics.
Results: Results showed the average of BOD5, COD, TSS, NO3, DO, pH, Turbidity and color are about 80±30, 155±58, 1013±637, 7.3±2, 4.5±3.5 mg/l, 7.2 ±1, 385±238 NTU, 122±70 TCU respectively.
Conclusion: It could be concluded that the Mehran River is completely polluted with municipal sewage and is unsanitary.Water quality index varies in the range of 41-52 and the water is classified as number 4. At present the river is in a dangerous ore toxic state and could not be considered as drinking water resource or needs more advanced water treatment units.

Backgrounds and Objectives: True cholera with typical clinical features nearly always occurs by serologic groups O1 and O139 but the non-O1 group can produce a disease with same clinical characteristic sporadically. According to the important of climate and environmental conditions in the distribution and abundance of Vibrio cholera, in this study, the distribution of the serologic group was evaluated in different parts of Qom city with relation to the affected patients.
Materials and Methods: In this study 5220 environmental specimens were taken from 12 parts of Qom city and during different seasons of the year 1325, 60 clinical specimens were taken from the patients and all were evaluated for Vibrio cholera with standard methods. The study was of Descriptive and cross sectional and the results were analyzed with statistical soft ware (Epi-info).
Results: The most abundance of Nag strains were related to Emamzadeh Ebrahim and Sheikhabad parts and Shahed Street from Khak faraj and Niroogah area and the least abundance were related to Salariyeh area. The abundance distribution of Nag strain, 7 different specimens was most in hogwash, sewerage and vegetables and least in pipe water which reveal a significant difference (P< 0.05) according to statistical goodness of fit test. The frequency distribution of the patients in each part of area 4 with relevance to sex revealed that the most contamination percentage was attributed to Emamzadeh Ebrahim and Sheikhabad and Shahed from Niroogah area and no positive specimen was taken from Haftado-do-tan and Shahrdary areas.
Conclusion: According to high occurrence of the disease in same areas, and results from other researchers based on increased frequency of non-O1 strains in the environment during the epidemic, so can release a connection between Vibrio cholera O1 strains and non-O1 strains to conclude. On the other hand, none of the clinical and environmental samples, Vibrio cholera O1 was isolated, so probably human carriers in Qom, not the main factor is the emergence of this disease.

Backgrounds and Objectives: Formaldehyde and phenol are key precursors in the industrial manufacture of resins. Toxicity of these compounds prevents function of microbial populations, so they affect the biological treatments. The aim of this study was investigation of TOC removal from phenol-formaldehyde resin manufacturing wastewater by electrocoagulation using Al- electrodes.
Materials and Methods: This study is the laboratory scale experiment was conducted as a pilot. Wastewater sample was adjusted in the desired pH, electrical conductivity and current density, then it was placed in to the reactor contains four electrodes in aluminum. The electrodes were connected to a DC power supply (0-40V, 0-3A). Samples were collected for TOC determination in the middle of cell at regular time intervals. Collected samples were analyzed using TOC analyzer.
Results:The results indicated that the optimum conditions for the removal of TOC were current density 75 A/m2, solution pH 4 and Conductivity 3 mS/cm. In this condition energy consumption was found 22.5 kWh m-3 after 60 min reaction.
Conclusion: This study shows that electrocoagulation of wastewater from phenol-formaldehyde resin manufacturing can be used as a pretreatment process.

Backgrounds and Objectives: Powdered Activated$ carbon is known as a suitable absorbent for organic materials. The aim of this research is evaluation of Powdered Activated-Carbon (PAC) efficiency in removal of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) in water treatment in Isfahan.
Materials and Methods : The increase of PAC for DOC reduction has done in three paths in the Isfahan water treatment plant (WTP). These paths including: 1) Intake up to entrance of WTP 2) Intake to exit ofWTP 3) Between entrance and exit of waterworks. The paths were simulated by the Jar test system. Then DOC and UV254 absorption were analyzed and SUVA parameter for samples and activated-carbon adsorption isotherm was calculated.
Results: The injected PAC doses of 20,40,60,80 and 100 mg/l caused decreasing in DOC and UV254 absorption in every sample in all paths. The average of this decrease, from intake to WTP.s exit (second path) was the greatest 69.8± 3.9%and the commonWTP process had capability of removing 35% of DOC. The first path also showed that PAC can reduce 33± 2% DOC of raw water by itself. Activated-carbon absorption results were adhered from Freundlich adsorption isotherm.
Conclusion: In the third path therewas lessDOCremoval efficiency than exceptedwhen Activated- Carbon injected in rapid mixed basin with coagulant. Powdered activated carbon porosity reduction due to effect of coagulant can be the reason for this issue.Also according to different paths, the point of intake is more suitable for powdered activated carbon addition.

Backgrounds and Objectives: Oil pollution can be generated as a result of spillage, leakage, discharge, exploration, production, refining, transport and storage of crude oil and fuels in the environment. Consequently, many researchers have developed and studied the chemical, physical and biological methods to degrade crude oil. Among them, the biological treatments are the most interesting as they are simple and economical methods. The aim of this study was to determine biokinetic coefficients of crude oil degradation by pseudomonas aerogenusa. This microorganism was isolated in our previous work.
Materials and Methods: In this study the bio-kinetic coefficients of crude oil biodegradation were evaluated. Pseudomonas aerogenusa bacteria which had been isolated from the soil sample taken from a gas station in our previous work were used in this study. This microorganism was cultured in the liquid medium containing crude oil as sole carbon source. Finally with determining the amount of microorganisms and crude oil concentration during biodegradation process, the bio-kinetic coefficients based on modified Monod equation were calculated.
Results: bio-kinetic coefficients obtained from laboratory studies are vital factors in industrial applications. As a result, the bio-kinetic study was performed to find bio-kinetic coefficients for biodegradation of crude oil using the isolated bacteria. The results showed that ,Y, k and were equal 0.107 , 0.882 , 9.39 and 169.3 respectively.
Coculusion:Our results showed that pseudomonas aerogenusa is usable for treatment of oily wastewaters in the full scale facility. Results of this study indicated bio kinetics confections.

Backgrounds and Objectives:Arsenic is one of the most toxic and dangerous elements in drinking  water that with increase in its application in agriculture, development of applications in agriculture, livestock, medicine, industry and other cases its entry to water resources and environment is much easier.Arsenic is a poisonous, cumulative substance and inhibitor of SH group enzymes and various studies revealed a significant correlation between high concentrations of arsenic in drinking water and liver cancer, nasal cavity cancer, lungs, skin, bladder and kidney cancer in men and women and prostate and liver in men. The aim of this was survey of arsenic removed from water using dissolved air floatation mechanism.
Materials and Methods: At present study in first step for determination best conditions of arsenic removal by dissolved air floatation method, optimum amount of coagulants determined and then synthetic solution of arsenic (50, 100 and 200 µg/L) prepared using sodium arsenate. In third step arsenic removal efficiency under various variables such as arsenic concentration, flocculation and floatation time and saturation pressure were analyzed. Finally residual arsenic concentration was determined by the silver diethyl dithiocarbamate method.
Results:Effect of optimum condition on arsenic removal efficiency at various initial concentration 50, 100 and 200 µg/Lshowed that the best coagulant for removal of arsenic is polyaluminumchloride. Also maximum efficiency (99.4%) was obtained in initial concentration equal 200 µg/L.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that dissolved air floatation method with poly aluminum chloride as coagulant have high efficiency for arsenic removal even at high concentrations and therefore this method can be used for removal of arsenic from water as a suitable and safe option.

Backgrounds and Objective: In arid and semi-arid regions of the world, urban runoff as a source of water restoration and is considered valuable. Wastewater treatment, while preserving the environment, it can be considered as water source. The aim of this study to evaluate the possibility of using powder grain Peregrina in wastewater treatment in comparing with Alum and PloyAluminum Chloride (PAC).
Materials and Methods: Flocculation and coagulation tests were done by Jar test. Wastewater quality parameters were measured according to standard method.
Results: Studies have been showed that in optimum Peregrina concentration, efficiency of turbidity reduction, total hardness, calcium hardness, magnesium hardness, total E. Coli are 95.11, 38, 55.5, 46.6, 97 and 97 percent respectively. It is noted that turbidity reducing directly related with coli form reduction. As, with increasing turbidity reduction, coliform reduction is increased. The most reduction of E. coli with combination of Alum, Ploy Aluminum Chloride and Peregrina was 100 percent. In optimum concentration of Alum, Ploy Aluminum Chloride and Peregrina, the quality of treated wastewater would be in the range of environmental standards. Therefore, treated wastewater can be entering to surface water and reuse as irrigation water.
Conclusion: The results derived from this study showed that the treated wastewater can be use in a variety of irrigation except sprinkler irrigation due to burn the leaves of plants. (high electrical conductivity).Also, the low cost of seed Peregrina and good performance in the refining operations, it is suggested that Peregrina as a replacement for poly aluminum chloride and an alum to be used for wastewater treatment.

Backgrounds and Objectives:Owing to the fact that the major environmental problem is production of surplus sludge in wastewater treatment plant, reducing the volume of produced sludge was objective of this research.
Materials and Methods: An anaerobic-aerobic SBR with working volume of 10 L was used to make micro-organism adapted and a polymer production reactor (PPR) with working volume of 1.5 L was used for producing polymer munisipal wastewater which contained different concentration of volatile fatty acids was consodered as the feed source (acetate and propionate) and this system was evaluated with SRT of 5, 7 and 10 days.
Results: The maximum polymer production efficiency observed within 5 days (SRT=5 days) though this efficiency was not significant in comparison with the two others time courses study. In this research the maximum polymer production efficiency at optimum condition was 25% of the sludge dry weight.
Conclusion: Experiment revealed that producing polymer from activated sludge reduced the volume of sludge and the maximum reduced sludge volume was obtained 19%.

Backgrounds and Objective: Surfactants are one of the largest pollutants which exist in urban and industrial wastewaters. Large quantities of surfactants have entered to the environment since last decade due to increased use of synthetic detergent in industrial and home consumptions.In this study, the efficiency of UV/H2O2 process in removal of linear alkylbenzane sulfonate (LAS) from aqueous solutions was investigated.
Materials and Methods: In this study methylene blue active substane(MBAS)method and spectrometery were used to determine anion and residual surfactant respectively. In this study important variables were H2O2 concentration, initial concentration of surfactant, pH and duration of UV radiation. The effect of UV/H2O2 process on the degradation of LAS was analyzed statistically by using Multiple Linear Regression test.
Results: The resulted showed that after 20 minute, ultraviolet radiation solely removed 38.44 percent of Anionic detergent, Hydrogen peroxide showed no significant removal of detergent solution in the time course study. The efficiency of UV/H2O2 process in 10, 20 and 30 minute were to 86.2, 90 and 96.5 %, respectively.
Conclusion: The results showed that the efficiency of ultraviolet radiation and hydrogen peroxide process in anionic detergent was not significant thoogh it was considerable in combination process (UV/H2O2).

Background and Objectives: widely use of antibiotics as therapy and uncontrolled discharge of them to receiving waters increased the percentages of antibiotic resistant bacteria in various environments which may cause problems in therapy. The aim of this study was to investigate the antibiotic resistance of E. coli, K. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa bacteria isolated from urban and hospital wastewaters. Nine antibiotics namely Chloramphenicol, Ciprofloxacin, Trimethoprim Sulfamethoxazol, Gentamycin, Ceftizoxime, Nalidixic Acid, Ceftazidime, Ceftriaxon and Cefalexin were investigated in this study.
Materials and Methods: through a cross-sectional descriptive study the isolation of bacteria from hospital and urban wastewater samples was performed by microbiological identification techniques. The resistance to nine antibiotics was tested by application of the standard disc diffusion technique and zone-size interpretation chart of Kirby-Baeur. Non-parametric Mann-Whitney test was used to assessing two environments differences.
Results: The resistance percentage of E. coli to studied antibiotics was significantly less (ranged from 1.81 to 51.02%) than the resistance percentage of P. aeroginosa (ranged from 3.57 to 61.76) and K. pneumoniae (ranged from 6.45 to 91.83%). the highest resistance to antibiotics studied was for K. pneumonia in comparison with others. E. coli, K. pneumonia and P. aeroginosa bacteria showed the highest resistance to CAZ, SXT and CN, respectively. The study showed the resistance rate in hospital wastewater is more than urban wastewater.
Conclusion: Easy access and uncontrolled usage of antibiotics cause discharge of antibiotics to wastewaters and consequently diminish the drugs' effectiveness. High concentration of antibiotic and diversity in wastewater of hospital in comparison with urban wastewater causes to transfer resistant agents between bacteria and increased the multiple resistances.

Background and Objectives: Fluoride is widely used in industries such as manufacture of semiconductors, power plants, glass production etc and release to the environment via their effluents. The purpose of this sturdy was to compare the efficiency of low price adsorbents in fluoride removal from water.
Materials and Methods: The optimum values of pH, contact time and adsorbent dosage were determined and different concentrations of fluoride were experimented in lab scale conditions for bagasse, modified bagasse and chitosan. Then Langmuir and Freundlich coefficient were determined based on optimum conditions.
Results: The pH value of 7, contact time of 60 min and adsorbent dosage of 2 g/L were determined as optimum conditions for all three adsorbents. The most fluoride removal efficiency of 91% was obtained for modified bagasse in optimum conditions.
Conclusion: Based on data obtained in this study, it can be concluded that adsorption by modified bagasse is an efficient and reliable method for fluoride removal from liquid solutions.

Background and Objectives: Linear alkyl benzene sulfonates are widely used as surfactants in formulated detergent products. Because of their use in household and industrial detergents, LAS is discharged into wastewater collection systems and subsequently entered to wastewater treatment plants. Therefore, it is important to determine the concentration of LAS with accuracy. They are usually determined by standard method which is time-consuming,tedious and requires great quantities of chloroform. IN 2006 E.Jurado et al proposed a simplified method for measurement of LAS. In the present work the standard method and E.Jurado simplified method was compared economically.
Material and Methods: In this work NPV method was used for accounting the cost of initial investment, consumable material, non-consumable equipment and annual cost of staff and finally Net Present Value was calculated for them separately. The rate of interest was considered 15%.
Results: calculation showed initial investment, annual cost of staff and materials for standard method 13351981, 499968 and 1710981 RLS, respectively. And these costs for simplified method were 12048202, 83328 and 58202 RLS, respectively. Finally NPV for standard method and simplified method were equal to 30360709 and 14681848 RLS.
Conclusion: The method proposed by E.Jurdo et al is simple, time consuming and more economical than standard method .This technique can be suggested applying to the routine measurement of LAS in wastewater treatment plants.

Background and Objectives:Anzali Wetland is one of the most important aquatic ecosystems of Iran which is located in south-west of the Caspian sea. This Wetland provides a suitable and non-market price habitat for valuable fish and aquatic animals which have an important role in the life cycle of this ecosystem. This study reports the results of some heavy metals contamination monitoring in superficial water of the Anzali Wetland, Iran.
Materials and Methods: The samples were collected from three sites (east, center and west) of Anzali Wetland, in each site three stations existed and each sample replicated three times.
Results: The results showed high heavy metal levels in eastern site of wetland, where there were high levels of contamination. The mean of heavy metals concentration in sediment from Anzali Wetland were in order as Cd 157.023, Pb 3.646 and Hg 300.692 ng /g dried weight, Zn 186.953 and Cu 44.452 mg /g dried weight in eastern site. The concentration levels of heavy metals in three sites were in order as follows: Zn > Cu > Hg > Cd > Pb.
Conclusion: Concentrations of heavy metals in eastern zone reflected metal loadings from anthropogenic sources located at and in the vicinity of the sampling sites.

Background and objective: The conventional chemical and physical methods for water disinfection include the application of ultraviolet (UV), chlorination, and ozonation. Water disinfection by electrochemical methods has been increasingly carried out recently. The goal of this applied - analytical research is to investigate the removal of E. coli bacteria, as the index of water microbial contamination, from drinking water by electrochemistry method.
Materials and Methods: In this study, the contaminated water sample was prepared through adding 102 and 103 E. coli bacteria per ml of drinking water. The contaminated water entered into the electrochemical reactor and different conditions were studied, included pH (6, 7, and 8), number of bacterium (102 and 103 per milliliter), time (5, 10, 20, and 40 min), distance between electrodes (2,2.5, 3, and 3.5 cm), and voltage (10, 20, 30, and 40 volts).
Results: The findings indicated the indirect correlation between bacteria removal efficiency and the variable distances between two electrode. The results indicated the direct correlation between bacteria removal efficiency and the variables voltage and electrolysis times. The results showed that the best conditions for removal of 102 and 103 bacteria per milliliter obtained at pH 7, electrolysis time of 10 min, distance between electrodes 2 cm, in the voltage 20 and 30 volts, respectively.
Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that voltage and electrolysis time have the most significant effect on electrolysis efficiency. Research findings showed that electrolysis is a promising method for removal of E. coli bacterium from drinking water.

Backgrounds and Objectives: The Atrak River is an important water supply resource in the Razavi Khorasan, Northern Khorasan and Golestan provinces. This river is the line border of Iran and Turkistan countries. Unfortunately, lack of water quality and quantity data due to nonexistence of a proper surface water quality monitoring station network is one of the main problems for water quality evaluation in the Atrak River. The main objective of the research is to offer a proper framework for surface water quality evaluation regarding to the mentioned limitations.
Materials and Method: In the first step, proper surface water quality monitoring stations along Atrak River are selected and water quality conditions are indicated using water quality index (WQI) model. The second step is allocated for determining trophic states of the river. Finally, the river water quality modeling is carried out for one of the most important index of water quality in the Atrak River i.e. total dissolved solids (TDS) based on proposed method by Oconnor (1976).
Result: Results of WQI model showed that most of the stations were in the moderate class. The result also showed that most parts of this river had trophic condition. Finally, based on findings of O'Conor model it is demonstrated that the salinity status observed in these four stations originated from the base flow and therefore, salinity is affected by the natural sources.
Conclusion: This methodology in the research can be used in rivers which don't have the proper surface water quality monitoring stations and therefore encountered with lack of water quality data. It can provide the proper strategy and management tasks to reach the good water quality conditions.

Background and Objectives: Nowadays, most countries of the world have shortage of water due to many reasons such as population growth, rising of living standards, indiscriminate water use, and so on. Besides, in absence of adequate water resources, desalination of brackish and saline waters have been used to supply potable water. Freezing process is one of the methods which can be used to desalinate saline waters.The aim of this study was to survey freezing process to produce potable water from saline water of Persian Gulf shores.
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in lab-scale by using indirect contact freezing. Three samples of 50 liter were provided from Bushehr shores. The implemented process steps were freezing (crystallization), separation of crystals, surface washing, and thawing. Freezing of the samples (each in 0.5 liter containers) were performed by a refrigerator at -20°C and 0.1KW/h energy consumption.
Results: The removal efficiencies of TDS in the first, second, and third samples by first freezing process were 56, 56, and 51 percent, respectively. Moreover, the removal efficiencies by EC were 42, 44, and 40 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, the removal efficiencies of TDS in first, second, and third samples by second freezing process observed 69, 69, and 68 percent, respectively. Moreover, the removal efficiencies by EC were 61, 60, and 63 percent, respectively. Also, the removal efficiencies of TDS in first, second, and third samples by third freezing process were 72, 73, and 72 percent, respectively. Moreover, the removal efficiencies by EC were 77, 78, and 77 percent, respectively. The production of the potable water by this method was 15-20 percent of the entry water.
Conclusions: According to the obtained results, potable water was obtained after third freezing of the saline water. Meanwhile, TDS of the produced water was less than maximum allowed concentration of Iranian standards.

Background and Objectives: New studies indicate that nitrate concentration in groundwater is increasing in most cities. High concentrations of nitrate in water increase the potential health risk in the community and the environment. In infants, No₃ _ is reduced to No₂ _, which combines with hemoglobin in the blood to form met hemoglobin leading to blue-tinged blood for babies under six months old in particular ,Namely, so-called ‘‘blue baby syndrome&apos&apos and  it  also produce carcinogenic compounds . Therefore high nitrate concentration is important. The aim of the present study is removing nitrate from water using zero_valent iron.
Materials and Methods: Analyses were conducted on synthetic samples. These samples were analyzed considering reaction times, pH, initial nitrate and sulfate concentration.
Results: Results showed that at Nitrate with an initial concentration of 200mg L1^-  after 60 min of reaction at pH(s) 7, 6 and 5 about 67.8%, 72.5 % and 88% was reduced, respectively in concentration of 100 and 300 mgL^- (pH=6) the removal efficiency is 60 and 83 percent, respectively. In sodium sulfate and nitrate with concentration of 300, the removal efficiency reached from 72 to 70 percent.
Conclusion: Results show that the initial pH is important to achieve maximum efficiency of nitrate removal. So the lower pH levels increases removal efficiency of nitrate. All of the experiments indicated that removal is the highest in the first 5 min. Generally with an increasing initial nitrate concentration the removal efficiency of nitrate increases.

Background and Objectives: One of the complete treatment processes for industrial and municipal wastewater treatment is membrane bioreactor process which has dominant potential in process and operation sections. This study was conducted to compare the performance of extended aeration activated sludge (EAAS) with submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) systems in the treatment of strength wastewater, in the same condition.
Materials and Methods: The initial activated sludge was brought from the Plascokar Saipa wastewater plant. The Plexiglas reactor with effective volume of 758 L was separated by a baffle into the aeration and secondary sedimentation parts with effective volumes of 433 L and 325 L, respectively. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration of the influent wastewater of the EAAS and SMBR systems were between 500-2700 and 500-5000 mg/L, respectively.
Results: Results showed that the SMBR system produced a much better quality effluent than EAAS system in terms of COD, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), total suspended solids (TSS) and ammonium. By increasing the COD concentration, the concentration of mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) and the removal efficiency of organic matter in the SMBR system, were increased regularly, however the removal efficiency of COD in the EAAS system was irregular. 
Conclusion: The average BOD5/COD ratio of effluent in the EAAS and SMBR systems were 0.708±0.18 and 0.537±0.106, respectively. These show that the organic matters in the effluent of the SMBR system was less degradable and thereupon more biological treatment was achieved. Nitrification process was completely done in the SMBR system while the EAAS system could not achieve to complete nitrification.

Background and Objectives: Aydughmush dam was built on Aydughmush River at 19km in southwest of Mianeh City. The dam is multipurpose and its main aims are the spring floods control, supplying potable water for villages and providing irrigation water. Different pollutants which probably discharge to the river finally enter to the dam reservoir so this study focuses on evaluating the quality of the dam reservoir.
Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional study standard field parameters including dissolved oxygen, temperature, Biochemical and chemical oxygen Demand, Most Probable Number of Coliforms, Fecal Coliform, Turbidity, Total Dissolved Solids, Total Solids, pH, conductivity and others were measured at eight different stations during the spring and summer in 2010. Sampling points were selected on the basis of their importance. Water quality index was calculated using water quality index calculator given by National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) information system.
Results: The highest value of WQI of the samples was 84.89 in A3 station in July while the lowest value was 67.96 in A2 station in May. The lower value of WQI has been found mainly due to the slightly lower value of DO in the dam reservoir water. Most of the water samples were found within Good category of National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSF-WQI). Comparison of the measured parameters based on the sampling stations and  various months by variance and t-student analysis showed a significant relationship for some parameters(P<0.05). Nutrient budget determination indicates that the concentration of phosphate, nitrite, nitrate and ammonia at inlet are higher than outlet of the dam reservoir.
Conclusion: The calculated (WQI) showed good water quality. Based on the results of NSFQWI calculations, the dam reservoir water quality is suitable for various purposes.

Background and Objectives: Effluent generated in several industries contains phenolic compounds, which have been classified as priority pollutants. Due to its toxicity, the conventional systems are inefficient for treatment of phenol-Laden wastewater. Biological processes using pure microbial culture, including fungi and yeast, are environmentally friendly techniques capable of complete destruction of contaminants.
Materials and Methods: This work was aimed at investigating the efficiency of a fungi specie in the decomposition of high concentrations of phenol ranging from 500 to 20000 mg/L. Several batch reactors were operated at different phenol concentration. The concentration of residual phenol was monitored over time using colorimetric method 4-aminoantipyrine. The removal efficiency was calculated considering the initial phenol concentration.
Results: Experimental data indicated that the phenol could efficiently degrade using the selected culture. The developed granules could completely degrade phenol at concentrations up to 20000 mg/L.
Conclusion: It can be concluded from the experimental data that the biodegradation using the Fungi granules is a very efficient and thus promising technique for treatment of wastewaters containing phenolic compounds.