Recent development of bioaugmentation methods for tobacco wastewater treatment

Abstract

In production of cigarettes a lot of tobacco waste, with nicotine, goes into the environment. Hence, there is a need for an economic and efficient method to diminish the discharge of hazardous materials from tobacco wastewaters. Bioaugmentation using specialized bacteria strains could improve the efficiency of tobacco wastewater treatment. In this review paper we present bioaugmentation methods for tobacco wastewater treatment that were published in last few years. Bioaugmentation systems have proven to be very effective in removal of nicotine and TOC; it was shown that Pseudomonas sp. HF-1 and TW bacteria strains can be successfully used in reactors. Recent studies showed that controlling pH in the reactors can improve reactor performance in removing nicotine and TOC from tobacco wastewater.