DEGRADATION OF ANIONIC SURFACTANTS WITH DIFFERENT INOCULA: EFFECT OF THE ADDITION OF COSUBSTRATES AND ELECTRON ACCEPTORS

Abstract

The synthetic surfactants are widely used in various domestic and industrial cleaning products and due to this it can be found in different wastewater. The degradation of these compounds by chemical processes may occur, but the biological degradation is currently considered a promising option. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the potential of different inocula and nutritional conditions for the biological degradation of anionic surfactants (AS). The inoculants were extracted from activated sludge treating domestic sewage, anaerobic sludge upflow sludge blanket (UASB) used to treat chicken slaughterhouse, cattle dung, soil and commercial septic tank sludge. The degradation of SA was assessed using different co-substrates and final electron acceptors. The experiments were performed in vials reactors facultative conditions. The experiment lasted 10 days, where they were monitored pH, dissolved and adsorbed. It was observed that the inocula had different behaviors with respect to degradation in the presence of AS co-substrates and electron acceptors through PCR / DGGE technique. The inoculum from commercial garden soil showed the largest AS degradation efficiencies at all the nutritional conditions, and the best performances obtained was using sucrose and yeast extract (77.0 and 73.1%, respectively), as these results cosubstrates that signal to an optimization option.

Keywords: linear alkylbenzene sulphonate, inocula, methylene blue, PCR/DGGE, soil.