Monitoring of the degradation of phenols byRhodococcus bacteria by using micellar electrokinetic chromatography

Abstract

Capillary electrophoresis can be a valuable tool for on-line monitoring of bioprocesses. The degradation of selected phenolic compounds by Rhodococcus bacteria was monitored in a microreactor interfaced by a membrane dialysis device and a home-built microsampler to a capillary electrophoresis unit. The use of this specially designed sampling device enabled rapid consecutive injections to be performed without high voltage interruptions. No additional sample preparation was required. In this particular case the time resolution of monitoring was about two hours but it could be reduced to as short as a couple of minutes. The analytes were detected at a μg/mL level with a reproducibility of about 20%. To demonstrate the potential of CE in understanding processes of biological and environmental interest, analysis of the degradation of selected environmentally hazardous phenols was carried out. Besides biodegradation, different competitive processes during which phenols were removed from the reactor were considered.