Isolation and Identification of a Phenol-Degrading Yeast JP-1 with High Activity and Its Degrading Characteristics and Kinetic

A yeast strain with high activity of phenol degradation was isolated from activated sludge of a wastewater treatment plant in a coking chemical factory, and identified as Candida tropicalis according to the analysis of VITEK-32 and its 18SrDNA gene sequence. The strain designated as JP-1 was able to grow on phenol as a sole carbon and energy source and it can degrade more than 90% of 1800 mg⋅L-1 phenol within 72h. The optimum pH was 6.0. Kinetic equation of phenol degradation was obtained by regression using MATLAB software. The parameters of Haldane equation were following: μmax=0.387 l⋅hr-1, Ks=4.20 mg⋅L-1, KiKi =465.6 mg⋅L-1. Cell grew was obviously inhibition by high concentration phenol and the inhibition strengthen increased with phenol increasing.