Removal of p-cresol using wash waters from lipopeptide production

Abstract

This work shows the efficiency of wash waters from lipopeptide production as a remediationstrategy to treat urban water samples contaminated with p-cresol. The harvesting step insurfactin production involved a centrifugation step, generating a major soluble fraction and afraction that is adsorbed to the biomass. The adsorbed fraction was recovered by washingsteps. These wash waters containing lipopeptides (mostly surfactins), were successfully used toadsorb and solubilize p-cresol. The method of decontamination applied to an artificiallycontaminated natural water was monitored using a biosensor based on laccase/magneticnanoparticles. Given the amount of surfactin within the wash water, the removal of p-cresolfrom artificially contaminated water was approximately 46.0%. This result confirms thesuccessful and sustainable application of surfactin-rich wash waters to remove p-cresol fromartificially contaminated natural water. The adsorption mechanism is potentially based on amulti-layer adsorption process, considering Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms.