Isolation of toluene-degrading bacteria and investigation of the ability to decompose aromatic hydrocarbon mixture in laboratory wastewater

Abstract

Toluene is an aromatic hydrocarbon commonly used as a solvent in industry and as one of the main components of gasoline. Due to its solubility in water, the compound may accumulate in surface water or reachgroundwater causing harmful effects on human health. Twenty bacterial strains grown on a minimal medium supplemented with toluene as the sole carbon source were isolated from the sediment samples of a laboratory wastewater treatment system. Among these, strains TL5 and TL27 performed toluene degradation capability