Phenol bioremediation was investigated using two bacteria (primarily cocci) Derma -coccus nishinomiyaensis, Kocuria rosea strains and the one actinomycetes Nocardiopsis lucentensis which were isolated from samples of activated sludge from the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Beni-Suef, Egypt as sole carbon and energy sources. This was applied on real industrial wastewater sample taken from Ul HAWA textile plant, Middle Egypt. Degradation of phenol by microbes adsorbed on natural kaolin clay was studied compared with free microbes. In case of 50 mg/L as starting phenol concentration, the percentage removal using free microbes was 68%, corresponding to 98% in case of microbes adsorbed on kaolin clay after the passage of 48 h under incubation at 30degree celsius and neutral pH at 150 rpm. Also, 300 mg/L of phenol achieved degradation frequency of 80% compared to 38% after approximate to 48 h without clay addition. High concentrations of an organic pollutant are usually inhibitory for the microorganisms. Kaolin clay has a pronounced effect in accelerating phenol degradation through biofilm formation resulting in decreasing the degradation time, increasing the percentage of removing efficiency under high phenol concentration conditions due to its buffering effects on pH fluctuations of the degradation system. Kaolin clay protects microorganisms against unfavorable environment, resists the adverse effects of substrate inhibition and accelerates the degradation process. The adsorption process was demonstrated by the pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, Weber-Morris adsorption kinetic models, and four isotherm models namely, Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin-Radushkevich have been applied to express the adsorption process. The SEM images of microbes adsorbed on kaolin clay explain their adsorption mode on the clay surface as biofilm (Bio kaolinite).
