Simultaneous adsorption and biodegradation (SAB) of diesel oil using immobilized Acinetobacter venetianus on porous material

Abstract This paper investigated modified bamboo charcoal (MBC) as a cheap, abundant and alternative cell immobilization matrix for biodegrading diesel oil. The immobilized microorganism’s degradation capacity was compared to its free form counterparts, namely planktonic and immobilized bacteria which degraded relatively high amounts of diesel oil (>80%). Acinetobacter venetianus immobilized on MBC demonstrated superior efficiency in degrading diesel oil (94%) compared to planktonic cells culture (82%) over a 3-day period. Moreover, the simultaneous adsorption and biodegradation of diesel oil using these immobilized cells fitted well to the pseudo second order ( R 2  > 0.99). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that through absorption, cells attached well to the cavum of MBC stalk cells. Fourier transform infrared analysis (FTIR) revealed that a large number of bands at 1300–1500 cm − 1 existed, demonstrating that the diesel oil was degraded and new bands were formed. Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrum (GC–MS) analysis indicated the immobilized cells could degrade diesel oil into esters and aldehydes. Results justified the applicability of MBC as the carrier matrix for immobilizing microorganisms in removing diesel oil compounds from industrial wastewater.