Phenol biodegradation by the thermoacidophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus 98/2 in a fed-batch bioreactor

Toxic at low concentrations, phenol is one of the most common organic pollutants in air and water. In this work, phenol biodegradation was studied in extreme conditions (80°C, pH = 3.2) in a 2.7 l bioreactor with the thermoacidophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus 98/2. The strain was first acclimatized to phenol on a mixture of glucose (2000 mg l−1) and phenol (94 mg l−1) at a constant dissolved oxygen concentration of 1.5 mg l−1. After a short lag-phase, only glucose was consumed. Phenol degradation then began while glucose was still present in the reactor. When glucose was exhausted, phenol was used for respiration and then for biomass build-up. After several batch runs (phenol < 365 mg l−1), specific growth rate (μX) was 0.034 ± 0.001 h−1, specific phenol degradation rate (qP) was 57.5 ± 2 mg g−1 h−1, biomass yield (YX/P) was 52.2 ± 1.1 g mol−1, and oxygen yield factor \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$ \left( {{\text{Y}}_{{{\text{X}}/{\text{O}}_{ 2} }} } \right) $$\end{document} was 9.2 ± 0.2 g mol−1. A carbon recovery close to 100% suggested that phenol was exclusively transformed into biomass (35%) and CO2 (65%). Molar phenol oxidation constant \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$ \left( {{\text{Y}}_{{{\text{O}}_{ 2} /{\text{P}}}} } \right) $$\end{document} was calculated from stoichiometry of phenol oxidation and introducing experimental biomass and CO2 conversion yields on phenol, leading to values varying between 4.78 and 5.22 mol mol−1. Respiratory quotient was about 0.84 mol mol−1, very close to theoretical value (0.87 mol mol−1). Carbon dioxide production, oxygen demand and redox potential, monitored on-line, were good indicators of growth, substrate consumption and exhaustion, and can therefore be usefully employed for industrial phenol bioremediation in extreme environments.