The Degradation of Bisphenol A by the New Tolerant Bacterial Strain Isolated from Petrochemical Wastewater

Bisphenol A (2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane, BPA) is one of the important pollutants in the petrochemical industries that possess endocrine-disrupting activity. A bacterium capable of degrading BPA as sole carbon and energy source was isolated from different outlets of petrochemical wastewater in Iran using enrichment cultivation approach. The Gram–negative bacterium was identified as Enterobacter sp. strain BYK-7 using 16s rDNA analysis. This strain had strong tolerance to high concentraion of BPA (up to 2000 mg/L). Strain BYK-7 degraded 23.10±0.126 mg/L BPA in basal medium, 31.35±4.05 mg/L BPA in petrochemical wastewater and 53.50±0.153 mg/L BPA in nutritious medium within 8, 72 and 48h, respectively. Our results clearly demonstrated that the addition of simple compounds including mineral salts into petrochemical wastewater enhances the BPA-degradation activity of the Enterobacter sp. BYK-7. Therefore, it seems that in addition to bioaugmentation, biostimulation by primary substrates is a very promising strategy for bioremediation of petrochemical wastewater containing BPA.