STUDY OF THE TOLUENE REMOVAL ABILITY FROM INDOOR AIR OF THE COMBINA TlON BETWEEN PLANTS AND PSEUDOMONAS PUTIDA TVA8 STRAIN

Abstract

The removal of airborne toluene by three plant species including A=alea indica, Ficus benjamina and Schejjlera arboricola was investigated in closed reactors contaminated 100 ppm of toluene by batch experiments. The toluene removal efficiency per day to gaseous toluene was the highest for A. indica (50%), then for F. benjamina (27%) and the lowest for S arboricola (4%). The combination between three these plants and Pseudomonas pulida TV AS - a toluene degrading strain was tested as bioaugrnentation strategy to remove gaseous toluene from contaminated air. The rcsults showed that the toluene removal of treatments applied inoculated plants by P. pulida TV AS were higher than of the treatments contained single plants without inoculation. The toluene removal efficiency of A. indica with inoculation of P. putida TV AS was twice than A. indica without P. putida TV AS and increased from 50 to 100% per day. For F. benjamina, the toluene removal ability increased from 27 to 50% per day with inoculation of P. pUlida TV AS. The highest toluene removal efficiency was 5 times indicated for S. arboricola inoculated by P. pUlida TV AS compared to S. arboricola without inoculation. These initial results indicated that plants and plants coordinated with bacteria may have potential to introduce as a biological remedy for air pollution treatment.