title: Flocculation behavior of Sphingobium chlorophenolicum in degrading pentachlorophenol at different life stages.
abstract: The cell flocculation behavior of degrading pentachlorophenol (PCP) by using Sphingobium chlorophenolicum (Flavobacterium sp., ATCC 39723) is investigated in the present paper. It is found that these Sphingobium cells can efficiently degrade PCP when the concentration of this toxic compound is below 150 ppm. These degradation rates of PCP can be facilitated with the additions of three supplementary carbons: glutamate (4.0 g/L), glucose (3.2 g/L), and cellobiose (3.05 g/L), among which the highest specific growth rate of cells is obtained when glucose is added. More importantly, in these biodegradation experiments described herein, in order to investigate the cell flocculation behavior, the temporal variations of cell size, zeta potential, and stability ratio of the cell suspension are also measured. It is found that, no matter what kind of supplementary carbon source is added, the highest stability ratio of the cell suspension can be always obtained at the end of the exponential growth phase, which can be well explained by using the results of cell size and zeta potential measurements according to the DLVO theory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China. yichang@mail.thu.edu.tw
authors.forename: You-Im
authors.initials: YI
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Chia-Ying
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Su
mesh_terms: D020561:Alphaproteobacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002449:Cell Aggregation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000187:drug effects; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D048429:Cell Size / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005427:Flocculation; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D010416:Pentachlorophenol / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D010416:Pentachlorophenol; D005947:Glucose