Thiocyanate Oxidation by Coculture from a Coke Wastewater Treatment Plant

Huijing Huang, Chunhua Feng, Xiaxia Pan, Haizhen Wu, Yuan Ren, Chaofei Wu, Chaohai Wei

College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
Jingtian Environmental Protection Technology Co. Ltd., Guangzhou, China;.
The Key Lab of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, College of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.

DOI: 10.4236/jbnb.2013.42A005                

Abstract

Bacterial strains in an activated sludge aerobic reactor from a coke wastewater were found to be able to utilize thiocyanate as carbon source when the thiocyanate-containing wastewater was deprived of carbon source. This study showed that three thiocyanate-oxidizing bacterial strains, Burkholderia sp., Chryseobacterium sp., and Ralstonia sp. were isolated from the activated sludge of a coke wastewater treatment plant as evidenced by the fact that complete decomposition of thiocyanate was achieved either by coculture or individual pure culture. The thiocyanate biodegradation by the coculture occurred with an optimal pH range between 6.5 and 8.5 and an optimal temperature range between 30°C and 40°C. The biodegradation kinetics of thiocyanate was well fitted with the Andrew-Haldane model, which demonstrated a distinct substrate concentration-inhibited bacterial growth pattern. The effects of different types of additional carbon, nitrogen or sulfur sources on thiocyanate biodegradation were also investigated. Analysis of the end-products indicated that thiocyanate degradation by these strains should proceed via two pathways.

Keywords

Thiocyanate Biodegradation; Carbon Source; Coke Wastewater; Biokinetics; Andrew-Haldane Model

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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