The use of biomaterials or microorganisms in PAHs degradation had presented an eye-catching performance. Pleurotus eryngii is a white rot fungus, which is easily isolated from the decayed woods in the tropical rain forest, used to determine the capability to utilize naphthalene, a two-ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon as source of carbon and energy. In the meantime, biotransformation of naphthalene to intermediates and other by-products during degradation was investigated in this study. Pleurotus eryngii had been incubated in liquid medium formulated with naphthalene for 14 days. The presence of metabolites of naphthalene suggests that Pleurotus eryngii begin the ring cleavage by dioxygenation on C1 and C4 position to give 1,4-naphthaquinone. 1,4-Naphthaquinone was further degraded to benzoic acid, where the proposed terepthalic acid is absent in the cultured extract. Further degradation of benzoic acid by Pleurotus eryngii shows the existence of catechol as a result of the combination of decarboxylation and hydroxylation process. Unfortunately, phthalic acid was not detected in this study. Several enzymes, including manganese peroxidase, lignin peroxidase, laccase, 1,2-dioxygenase and 2,3-dioxygenase are enzymes responsible for naphthalene degradation. Reduction of naphthalene and the presence of metabolites in liquid medium showed the ability of Pleurotus eryngii to utilize naphthalene as carbon source instead of a limited glucose amount.
Microbial granular sludge that is capable to treat textile wastewater in a single reactor under intermittent anaerobic and aerobic conditions was developed in this study. The granules were cultivated using mixed sewage and textile mill sludge in combination with anaerobic granules collected from an anaerobic sludge blanket reactor as seed. The granules were developed in a single sequential batch reactor (SBR) system under alternating anaerobic and aerobic condition fed with synthetic textile wastewater. The characteristics of the microbial granular sludge were monitored throughout the study period. During this period, the average size of the granules increased from 0.02 +/- 0.01 mm to 2.3 +/- 1.0 mm and the average settling velocity increased from 9.9 +/- 0.7 m h(-1) to 80 +/- 8 m h(-1). This resulted in an increased biomass concentration (from 2.9 +/- 0.8 g L(-1) to 7.3 +/- 0.9 g L(-1)) and mean cell residence time (from 1.4 days to 8.3 days). The strength of the granules, expressed as the integrity coefficient also improved. The sequential batch reactor system demonstrated good removal of COD and ammonia of 94% and 95%, respectively, at the end of the study. However, only 62% of color removal was observed. The findings of this study show that granular sludge could be developed in a single reactor with an intermittent anaerobic-aerobic reaction phase and is capable in treating the textile wastewater.
Characterization of anthracene metabolites produced by Armillaria sp. F022 was performed in the enzymatic system. The fungal culture was conducted in 100-mL Erlenmeyer flask containing mineral salt broth medium (20 mL) and incubated at 120 rpm for 5-30 days. The culture broth was then centrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 45 min to obtain the extract. Additionally, the effect of glucose consumption, laccase activity, and biomass production in degradation of anthracene were also investigated. Approximately, 92 % of the initial concentration of anthracene was degraded within 30 days of incubation. Dynamic pattern of the biomass production was affected the laccase activity during the experiment. The biomass of the fungus increased with the increasing of laccase activity. The isolation and characterization of four metabolites indicated that the structure of anthracene was transformed by Armillaria sp. F022 in two routes. First, anthracene was oxidized to form anthraquinone, benzoic acid, and second, converted into other products, 2-hydroxy-3-naphthoic acid and coumarin. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis also revealed that the molecular structure of anthracene was transformed by the action of the enzyme, generating a series of intermediate compounds such as anthraquinone by ring-cleavage reactions. The ligninolytic enzymes expecially free extracellular laccase played an important role in the transformation of anthracene during degradation period.