Biosafety
 

Environmental biotechnology

Electronic Journal of Biotechnology ISSN: 0717-3458 Vol. 11 No. 4, Issue of October 15, 2008
© 2008 by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso -- Chile Received February 22, 2008 / Accepted August 4, 2008
DOI: 10.2225/vol11-issue4-fulltext-15
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Relationship between cultivation mode of white rot fungi and their efficiency for olive oil mill wastewaters treatment

Sanae Mdaghri Alaoui
Laboratoire de Microbiologie de l’Environnement
Faculté des Sciences Dhar El Mehraz
Université Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah
B.P: 1796 Atlas-Fès, Morocco
E-mail: mdaghrialaouis@yahoo.fr

Mohamed Merzouki
Laboratoire de Microbiologie de l’Environnement
Faculté des Sciences Dhar El Mehraz
Université Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah
B.P: 1796 Atlas-Fès, Morocco
E-mail: merzoukimo@yahoo.fr

Michel J. Penninckx*
Laboratoire de Physiologie et Ecologie Microbienne
Faculté des Sciences
Université libre de Bruxelles
Belgique
Tel: 32 2 3733303
Fax: 32 2 3733303
E-mail: upemulb@resulb.ulb.ac.be

Mohamed Benlemlih
Laboratoire de Microbiologie de l’Environnement
Faculté des Sciences Dhar El Mehraz
Université Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah
B.P: 1796 Atlas-Fès, Morocco
Tel: 212 61 90 08 48
Fax: 212 55 73 29 81
E-mail: benlemlihmo@yahoo.fr

*Corresponding author

Financial support: The authors wish to thank the “Walloon region of Belgium” and the “Association des Universités Francophones” for their financial support.

Keywords: biotreatment, cell immobilization, olive oil mill wastewaters, white rot fungi.

Abbreviations:

COD: chemical oxygen demand
NT: total nitrogen
OOMW: olive oil mill wastewaters
TDM: total dry matter
TSS: total suspended solids
VM: volatile matter
WRF: white rot fungi

Abstract   Full Text

Four white rot fungi (WRF) strains, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Trametes versicolor, Coriolopsis polyzona and Pycnoporus coccineus, were tested for efficiency of treatment of Olive Oil mill wastewaters (OOMW) in relation with their cultivation mode, i.e. under the form of free mycelium, mycelium immobilized in alginate beads and solid state cultivation on Petri dishes. Study of biodegradation of phenolic compounds, chemical oxygen demand (COD) decrease and decolourisation of OOMW have shown that Coriolopsis polyzona and Pycnoporus coccineus degradation performances were apparently only slightly affected by the cell cultivation procedures experienced here. In contrast, Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Trametes versicolor showed respectively marked preferences for solid state and alginate immobilisation procedures. Both mono and polyphenolics were reduced to different extent during incubation depending on the strain, as shown by gel filtration analysis. Final pH obtained after fungal treatment of the OOMW based medium (initial pH of 5.0) was measured in order to evaluate the possibility of releasing friendly the treated wastewater in the environment. Laboratory studies as reported here may be useful for orienting the choice of a strain for treating pollution by OOMW in a particular real situation.

Supported by UNESCO / MIRCEN network