Biodegradation of phenolic compounds in waste foundry sand: Physical and chemical characterization of foundry sand and bacterial degradation kinetics

Abstract The foundry sand agglomerated with the phenolic resin becomes a hazardous waste after its use in the metallurgical industry. Thus, the present work aimed to study the biodegradation of phenolic compounds present in the waste phenolic foundry sand, such as phenol, o-cresol and m-cresol which were used as the only carbon source to Burkholderia genus. The foundry sand showed an initial concentration of phenol, m-cresol and o-cresol as 953, 360 and 110 mg L−1, respectively. After the bioprocess, a degradation efficiency of 97% for phenol and 100% for m-cresol and o-cresol, at temperature 28 °C and agitation 180 rpm and also no bacterial toxicity were observed. Thus, the bioremediation of waste foundry sand with reducing environmental and economic impacts through an ecologically correct and also low-cost process becomes potential to be applied on an industrial scale.