Microbial and Solar Photocatalytic Degradation of Pyridine
Abstract
Pyridine removal by green technological processes, microbial and solar photocatalytic mineralization has been carried out. A soil microbe, Bacillus brevis, obtained from carbonization plant effluent is capable of degrading pyridine. Free cells take 40 hrs to degrade 200 ppm of pyridine, while immobilized cells take only 20 hrs. Immobilization on activated carbon and alginate beads make cells capable of degrading 800 ppm of pyridine in 40 hrs. Immobilized cells maintain their efficiencies for three months. The biocatalyst has the desirable recycling capacities. Now the focus of research is to develop a hybrid process of photo-degradation followed by biodegradation as these two are prominent eco-friendly techniques. We also performed solar photocatalysis with ZnO to make use of a hybrid process for water treatment. The optimum operating conditions for solar photocatalytic degradation by ZnO are reported.