REVIEW ON ADVANCES IN BIODEGRADATION OF PHENOLS: KINETICS,MODELLING AND MASS TRANSFER

Harmful pollutants like phenol and its derivatives are found in wastewater from a wide range of industries, including oil refining, medicines, coal conversion, chemistry, and petrochemistry. The high concentration, high toxicity, and difficult-to-degrade characteristics of phenols in wastewater pose a serious threat to the environment and to human health. By employing different strains of microorganisms and biocatalysts to create biodegradation procedures of diverse pollutants and a wide spectrum of hazardous compounds, biotechnology has successfully addressed significant environmental challenges. Among various phenols removal techniques, biodegradation is both economical and environmentally friendly. During the study of microbial degradation processes, there is a great deal of interest in the potential for mathematical modelling to forecast microbial growth and degrade harmful or inhibiting environmental pollutants at variable quantities. Such mathematical models are frequently created using aromatic compounds like phenol. The review discusses the following topics: kinetics, modelling, and mass transfer; future scope and directions; diverse microorganisms, bioreactors, the metabolic pathway of phenol, influencing factors, and recent advancements in biological therapy.