Abstract |
Διατμηματικό, συνεργαζόμενα Τμήματα, Χημείας Πανεπιστημίου Κρήτης και Χημικών Μηχανικών Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών. In order to face the major pollution caused by the olive mill wastewater(OMW) when they are deposited in soil or water, many approaches are used. The fungi constitute the main group of microorganisms which have been used for the reduction of the phenolic load of OMW, so that it can become an environmentally acceptable effluent for discharge into stream or soil acceptors or for further physicochemical or biological treatments. Recently, ”white-rot fungi”have been used for the biotreatment of OMW with success. Their enzymic system is basically oxidative and includes non-specialised enzymes such as ligninase, manganese-dependent peroxidase and laccase. These enzymes use the phenolic compounds in OMW as substrates and accomplish their depolymerization by attacking and disrupting the aromatic rings. The edible mushroom Pleurotus, which belong to the white-rot group, was evaluated in the present study. The fungi of the genus Pleurotus were particularly effective in enzymic biodegradation of the OMW phenolics and reducing significantly its organic load, while in parallel discolorizing the waste. The ability of different isolates to detoxify OMW varied considerably at the species and strain levels, indicating complexicity of the enzymic mechanisms and the biological parameters involved.
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