Evaluación de microorganismos capaces de crecer en presencia de tensoactivos aislados a partir de efluentes de la planta de tratamiento de aguas residuales del cantón Patate.

Abstract

According to the concentration in which it is found in the aquatic environment, the surfactants are considered toxic for the organisms, causing pollution in the water. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the tolerance capacity to microorganisms’ surfactants isolated from water samples from the Wastewater Treatment Plant of Patate Canton. The selection of clones has been made taking into account their morphological characteristics and their capacity to grow in supplemented media with Linear Sulfonic Acid at an initial concentration of 100 ppm and in supplemented media with Quaternary Ammonium at an initial concentration of 50 ppm, using as control the same medium without selective pressure. The isolated clones were subjected to an evaluation of tolerance to the increase of concentration of different surfactants (Linear Sulfonic Acid and Quaternary Ammonium). The results obtained indicated that Clones 11 and 19 isolated from the supplemented medium with Linear Sulfonic Acid were able to tolerate concentrations up to 3500 ppm of the surfactant and Clones 11 and 19 isolated from the supplemented medium with Quaternary Ammonium were able to tolerate concentrations of 1500 ppm of the surfactant. Subsequently the growth of clones in Bushell Hass Agar was evaluated using the surfactants as the only carbon source. The results showed that Clone 11 isolated from supplemented medium with Quaternary ammonium, was able to grow at a concentration of 500 ppm and Clone 27 isolated from the supplemented medium with Linear Sulfonic Acid was able to grow at a concentration of 1050 ppm. During the study, it was concluded that Quaternary Ammonium is the most toxic, while Linear Sulfonic Acid showed less toxicity, after further evaluation it could be used as Biotechnological tools in Bioremediation processes (Wastewater Treatment).