Excellent phenol removal ability of Acinetobacter guillouiae BY18 under different inorganic nitrogen conditions

Phenol and inorganic nitrogen generally exist in industrial wastewater and contaminated soil. In this study, Acinetobacter guillouiae BY18, which can simultaneously remove high concentrations of phenol and inorganic nitrogen, was isolated from a wet meadow in Weining County, Guizhou Province, China. The optimal remediation conditions for strain BY18 were 25 °C and pH 7.20–8.20, with a C/N ratio of 10, rotation speed of 150 r/min, and inoculation amount of 0.2×108 CFU. When phenol and ammonium were both present, strain BY18 could remove 982.86 mg/L of phenol and 64.76 mg/L of ammonium within 18 h. Strain BY18 was able to eliminate 979.71 mg/L, 55.84 mg/L, and 49.20 mg/L of phenol, nitrite, and nitrate, respectively, within 36 h when ammonium was substituted by nitrate or nitrite. In the simultaneous nitrification and denitrification reaction system, the maximum removal rates of phenol and ammonium were 92.53 mg/(L·h) and 5.7 mg/(L·h), respectively. Overall, strain BY18 had a remarkable phenol removal ability under different inorganic nitrogen conditions.