ABSTRACT
Microorganisms of the effluents from dairy factories located in 6th
October industrial city (Cairo, Egypt) were isolated and screened for their
ability to reduce the pollutants found in the dairy wastewater effluent.
Five bacterial strains (Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Streptococcus thermophilus, Bacillus supergene and Lactobacillus
fermentum) and three fungal strains (Aspergillus sp., Cladosporium sp.
and Fusarium sp) were isolated to be used in biodegradation. A two
stage reactor (incubation then filtration) was used during this study. Two
mixtures were prepared (Mix 1: five bacterial isolated strains and Mix 2:
three fungal isolated strains). The results showed that bacterial and fungal
strains have high efficiency for organic pollutants reduction as the
percentage of reduction reached 79.8 % and 72.5 % respectively. TSS for
both bacterial and fungal mixtures shows high reduction efficiency with
99.5% and 98.9% respectively, However after incubation the reduction
efficiency was not high for both bacterial and fungal mixtures as it
increased after filtration Bacterial mixtures was slightly more effective
than fungal mixtures during the treatment process. Using activated
carbon and sand for filtration after incubation enhances the treatment
efficiency of the pollutants present in dairy wastewater.