Journal of Bioremediation & Biodegradation

Abstrait

Bacillus cereus Mediated ε-Caprolactam Degradation: An Initiative for Waste Water Treatment of Nylon-6 Production Plant.

Mehta SK, Panchal PA, Butala BN and Sane SA 

Present study focuses on isolation, characterization and application of a novel bacterial strain for biological treatment of waste water from Nylon 6 production plant of Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals (GSFC), Vadodara. This microbe was isolated by applying basal synthetic medium containing ε-caprolactam (precursor of Nylon-6 polymer) as a sole source of carbon and nitrogen. It was identified as Bacillus cereus strain YH-10 on the basis of primary characterization followed by 16s ribosomal RNA gene analysis. This strain has very high tolerance for ε-caprolactam (3.5%) compared to other reported ε-caprolactam -degrading microbes. It degrades 91% and 83.3% ε-caprolactam of synthetic media and Nylon-6 Waste water, respectively in 96 hrs. ε-caprolactam degradation was calculated by analyzing unutilized ε-caprolactam concentration in the samples using liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (LC-MS/MS) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) analysis. Based on these observations, biological treatment of waste water from Nylon-6 plant is envisaged utilizing minimum resources.