Selection carriers and parameters for the immobilization of consortium of microorganisms-destructors of phosphates

Every year a large number of polluting sub-stances are discharged into the environment and clean water sources are becoming less. Recently the concentration of phosphates in domestic sew-age has significantly increased. The sanitary norm of their content in drinking water is not more than 3.5 mg/l, the maximum allowable concentration for ponds and fishery production is 0.2 mg/l. Both val-ues exceed the normative index and can have negative impact on human body, animals and the environment as a whole. The study is aimed at in-creasing the efficiency of biological wastewater treatment by using immobilized microflora. In the study the possibility of physical immobilization of consortium of microorganisms-destructors of phos-phates (Acinetobacter sp. B3905, Bacillus sp. B5061, Pseudomonas facilis G0405BT) on solid carriers (activated carbon BAU-K, activated carbon DAK, Ural carbon fabric TM-4 and expanded clay) was investigated. Sorption capacity of carriers was determined by measuring the difference in the con-centration of microorganisms before and after the immobilization process using spectrophotometric method of investigation. The selection of optimal temperature and duration of immobilization was carried out. The temperature varied from 10 to 50 оС, the effect of the duration of the process was evaluated after 1, 2, 4, 6 and 12 hours. The possi-bility of cultivation of immobilized consortium in five cycles of loading to assess the reproducibility of the growth of cultures of microorganisms under repeat-ed use was analyzed. Practical application of ob-tained data can consist in the creation of biofilters for purification of industrial wastewater from phos-phorus compounds.