Biodegradation and decolourization of anaerobically treated distillery spent wash by a novel bacterial consortium

The aim of this study was to isolate microorganisms capable of decolourizing and degrading anaerobically treated distillery spent wash. A bacterial consortium DMC comprising of three bacterial cultures was selected on the basis of rapid effluent decolourization and degradation, which exhibited 67 ± 2% decolourization within 24 h and 51 ± 2% chemical oxygen demand reduction within 72 h when incubated at 37 °C under static condition in effluent supplemented with 0.5% glucose, 0.1% KH2PO4, 0.05% KCl and 0.05% MgSO4 • 7H2O. Addition of organic or inorganic nitrogen sources did not support decolourization. The cultures were identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, Stenotrophomonas maltophila and Proteus mirabilis by the 16S rDNA analysis.