Comparative pentachlorophenol degrading potential of two bacterial consortia isolated from tannery and pulp and paper mill effluent sludge

Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is highly toxic and recalcitrant compound which is frequently and extensively being used in a variety of industries (wood, cardboard, leather etc.) and agriculture as a preservative and biocide. The PCP degrading bacterial consortia isolated from tannery and pulp and paper mill effluents were enriched in a chemostat containing mineral salt media. The bacterial strains obtained from chemostat were characterized as two species each of Pseudomonas and Arthrobacter and one species of Sphingomonas from Tannery effluent and three species of Pseudomonas and one species of Flavobacterium from pulp and Paper mill effluent. The enriched bacterial consortia were applied for the removal of PCP in a lab-scale bioreactor and it was observed that bacterial consortium isolated from tannery effluent have more capability to degrade PCP as it removed 75% PCP within 9 days than the bacterial consortium isolated from pulp and paper mill effluent showing only 60% removal within same time.