Phenol is one of the important chemical constituents which is highly used for the production of numerous chemicals and value-added products. The huge application of phenol leads to its enormous presence in the environment as a toxic effluent. The present work emphasizes on the biodegradation of synthetic phenol using glass beads immobilized with Nocardia Hydro carbon oxydan biomass. The study also emphasizes on the performance of packed bed bioreactor on the degradation process. Experimental studies reveals that the microorganisms are able to degrade phenol at a lower inlet concentration of 300 ppm. The effect of the quantity of the immobilized carrier particles on the phenol degradation was studied. The results obtained justifies the optimum type of bioreactor and type and condition of biomass which can be used for best possible phenol removal from effluent waters.

Phenol; biodegradation; biomass; microorganisms