Abstract
Phenol is a toxic organic pollutant to living cells and its biodegradation is considered the best method due to its environment
friendly nature and cost effectiveness. In this study, eight bacterial strains were isolated through enrichment on mineral salt
media supplemented with 300 mgL-1
phenol. The isolated strains were identified by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and
belonged to genera: Rhodococcus, Stenotrophomonas, Lysinibacillus, Comamonas, Microbacterium, Pseudomonas and
Halomonas. The results of phenol biodegradation experiments (conducted at pH 7 and 30°C temperature) showed that the
strains could degrade 750 mg L-1
phenol within 40 to 96 hours. The average phenol degradation rate by the strains was 12.5
to 34.8 mgL-1
h
-1
. The most rapid phenol degradation was observed for Rhodococcus sp. NCCP-309 and Rhodococcus sp.
NCCP-312, whereas, Stenotrophomonas sp. NCCP-311, Lysinibacillus sp. NCCP-313, Comamonas sp. NCCP-314 and
Microbacterium sp. NCCP-351 took longer time in phenol degradation. The results of our study suggested that these strains
are efficient in phenol biodegradation and can be used for the bioremediation of waste water containing phenol.
