• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.583-591
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• 2002

Biodegradation of fat, oil, and grease (FOGs) plays an Important role in wastewater management and water pollution control. However, many industrial food-processing and food restaurants generate FOG-containing waste waters for which there Is no acceptable technology for their pretreatment. To solve these problems, this study evaluated the feasibility of effective FOG-degrading microorganisms on the biodegradation of olive oil and FOG-containing wastewater. Twenty-two strains capable of degrading FOGs were isolated from five FOG-contaminated sites for the evaluation of their FOG degradation capabilities. Among twenty-two strains tested, the lipase-producing Pseudomonas sp. strain D2D3 was selected for actual FOG wastewater treatment. Its biodegradability was performed at 3$0^{\circ}C$ and pH 8. The extent of FOG removal efficiency was varied for each FOG tested, being the highest for olive oil and animal fat (94.5% and 94.4%), and the lowest for safflower oil (62%). The addition of organic nitrogen sources such as yeast extract, soytone, and peptone enhanced the removal efficiency of FOGs, but the addition of the inorganic nitrogen nutrients such as $NH_4$Cl and $(NH_4)_2SO_4$ did not increase. The $KH_2PO_4$ sources in 0.25% to 0.5% concentrations showed more than 90% degradability. As a result, the main pathway for the oxidation of fatty acids results in the removal of two carbon atoms as acetyl-CoA with each reaction sequence: $\beta$-oxidation. Its lipase activity showed 38.5 U/g DCW using the optimal media after 9 h. Real wastewater and FOGs were used for determining the removal efficiency by using Pseudomonas sp. strain D2D3 bioadditive. The degradation by Pseudomonas sp. strain D2D3 was 41% higher than that of the naturally occurring bacteria. This result indicated that the use of isolated Pseudomonas sp. strain D2D3 in a bioaugmentating grease trap or other processes might possibly be sufficient to acclimate biological processes for degrading FOGs.