[Quinoline removal in fluidized-bed bioreactor using immobilized cells]

Burkholderia pickettii, capable of using quinoline as sole source of carbon, nitrogen and energy, was immobilized by an innovative PVA-H3BO3-gauze method. A fluidized-bed bioreactor, in which immobilized cells were added, was constructed to degrade quinoline in wastewater. When the initial concentrations of quinoline were 100, 350 and 500 mg/L, the bioreactor can remove it completely within 2.5, 6 and 12 hours respectively. A series of zero-order reaction equations were proposed to describe quinoline biodegradation process in this bioreactor kinetically. In continuous flow experiments, the performance of the bioreactor was investigated at different HRT (dilution rate) for different quinoline concentrations in wastewater and the tolerance against shock loading was determined by increasing quinoline concentration from 100 to 300 to 500 mg/L at HRT 4 hours.