Abstract: To solve the environmental pollution problem caused by toluene emission, a bacterial strain that can use toluene as a single carbon source was screened from the soil near a furniture factory and identified as Pseudomonas sp. M1 by morphological characterization and 16S rDNA analysis. The growth conditions of the strain were optimized by single-factor experiments, and the strain was examined under optimal growth conditions for its ability to utilize different substrates. The growth conditions were optimized by single-factor experiments, and the effects of organic matter utilization and surfactant on the growth and degradation of the strain were investigated under optimal growth conditions. The results showed that strain M1 had strong tolerance to toluene, and the degradation rate reached 63.03% after 3 d at 30 ℃, pH 7.0 and toluene mass concentration of 200 mg/L. In addition to toluene, M1 can also use benzene and ethanol as carbon source and energy source, and can still maintain a certain amount of growth under the combined pollutants of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene. The nonionic surfactant TritonX-100 is moderately biodegradable and has the best promotion effect on toluene degradation by strain. At 100 mg/L toluene mass concentration, the toluene degradation rate was 93.35% after the addition of TritonX-100 with 0.5 CMC.

Key words: toluene, Pseudomonas sp., isolation and identification, degradation characteristics, surfactant