Anaerobic biodegradation of benzene series compounds by mixed cultures based on optional electronic acceptors

A series of batch experiments were performed using mixed bacterial consortia to investigate biodegradation performance of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and three xylene isomers （BTEX） under nitrate, sulfate and ferric iron reducing conditions. The results showed that toluene, ethylbenzene, m-xylene and o-xylene could be degraded independently by the mixed cultures coupled to nitrate, sulfate and ferric iron reduction. Under ferric iron reducing conditions the biodegradation of benzene and p-xylene could be occurred only in the presence of other alkylbenzenes. Alkylbenzenes can serve as the primary subs＇rates to stimulate the transformation of benzene and p-xylene under anaerobic conditions. Benzene and p-xylene are more toxic than toluene and ethylbenzene, under the three terminal electron acceptors conditions, the degradation rates decreased with toluene 〉 ethylbenzene 〉 m-xylene 〉 o-xylene〉 benzene 〉 p- xylene. Nitrate was a more favorable electron acceptor compared to sulfate and ferric iron. The ratio between sulfate consumed and the loss of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene, m-xylene, p-xylene was 4.44, 4.51, 4.42, 4.32, 4.37 and 4.23, respectively; the ratio between nitrate consumed and the loss of these substrates was 7.53, 6.24, 6.49, 7.28, 7.81, 7.61, respectively; the ratio between the consumption of ferric iron and the loss of toluene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene, m-xylene was 17.99, 18.04, 18.07, 17.97, respectively.

QSBR Study on the Anaerobic Biodegradation of Chlorophenols

18 Physicochemical and quantum chemical parameters of 12 kinds of chlorophenols are calculated in this paper. QSBR （quantitative structure-biodegradability relationship） study is performed using simca statistical software by PLS regression analysis method on anaerobic biodegradation data （logKb）, and the QSBR model is developed with favorable prediction. The model shows that the size and energy of the molecule are the dominant factors affecting the anaerobic biodegradation of chlorophenols. And the degradation rate constants （logKb） increase with the increase of core-core repulsion （CCR）, average molecular polarizability （α）, total surface area （TSA）, heat of formation （HOF） and total energy （TE）. while decrease with the increase of molecular connectivity index （^1X^V）, relative molecular mass （Mw） and electronic energy （EE）.

Anaerobic benzene biodegradation by a pure bacterial culture of Bacillus cereus under nitrate reducing conditions

A pure culture using benzene as sole carbon and energy sources was isolated by screening procedure from gasoline contaminated soil.The analysis of the 16S rDNA gene sequence,morphological and physiological characteristics showed that the isolated strain was a member of genus Bacillus cereus.The biodegradation performance of benzene by B.cereus was evaluated,and the results showed that benzene could be efficiently biodegraded when the initial benzene concentration was below 150 mg/L.The metabolites of anaerobic nitrate-dependent benzene oxidation by strain B.cereus were identified as phenol and benzoate.The results of substrate interaction between binary combinations for benzene,phenol and benzoate showed that the simultaneous presence of benzene stimulated the degradation of benzoate,whereas the addition of benzene inhibited the degradation of phenol.Benzene degradation by B.cereus was enhanced by the addition of phenol and benzoate,the enhanced effects were more pronounced at higher concentration.To our knowledge,this is the first report that the isolated bacterial culture of B.cereus can efficiently degraded benzene under nitrate reducing conditions.

Anaerobic biodegradation,physical and structural properties of normal and high-amylose maize starch films

Biodegradable plastics have attracted considerable attention in recent years due to their biodegradability,biocompatibility and non-toxicity.In this study,normal maize starch(containing 25%amylose)and high-amylose maize starch(containing 80%amylose)were served as model materials to prepare starch/polyvinyl alcohol(PVA)blends.To comprehensively study the effects of amylose contents on the film performances,the mechanical properties,water resistance and anaerobic biodegradability of the two films were examined.Moreover,the processes of anaerobic degradation were investigated by evolutions of biogas production,pH in reactors and the changes of film structures and compositions.The results indicated that amylose content played an important role in the microstructures of starch film as well as mechanical properties and water resistance,whereas it had no significant influence on anaerobic biodegradability of the films.Nonetheless,the structure of high-amylose maize starch/PVA film was more suitable and beneficial to the anaerobic biodegradation than that of the normal maize starch/PVA film,because it could effectively avoid accumulation of volatile fatty acids,which contributed to the stable biogas production,short fermentation period and non-souring in the reactor.

Anaerobic biodegradation of PAHs in mangrove sediment with amendment of NaHCO_3

Mangrove sediment is unique in chemical and biological properties. Many of them suffer polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon（PAH） contamination. However, the study on PAH biological remediation for mangrove sediment is deficient. Enriched PAH-degrading microbial consortium and electron acceptor amendment are considered as two effective measures. Compared to other electron acceptors, the study on CO2, which is used by methanogens, is still seldom. This study investigated the effect of Na HCO3 amendment on the anaerobic biodegradation of four mixed PAHs, namely fluorene（Fl）, phenanthrene（Phe）,fluoranthene（Flua） and pyrene（Pyr）, with or without enriched PAH-degrading microbial consortium in mangrove sediment slurry. The trends of various parameters, including PAH concentrations, microbial population size, electron-transport system activities, electron acceptor and anaerobic gas production were monitored. The results revealed that the inoculation of enriched PAH-degrading consortium had a significant effect with half lives shortened by 7–13 days for 3-ring PAHs and 11–24 days for 4-ring PAHs. While Na HCO3 amendment did not have a significant effect on the biodegradation of PAHs and other parameters, except that CO2 gas in the headspace of experimental flasks was increased.One of the possible reasons is that mangrove sediment contains high concentrations of other electron acceptors which are easier to be utilized by anaerobic bacteria, the other one is that the anaerobes in mangrove sediment can produce enough CO2 gas even without adding Na HCO3.

Anaerobic BTEX degradation in soil bioaugmented with mixed consortia under nitrate reducing conditions

Different concentrations of BTEX, including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and three xylene isomers, were added into soil samples to investigate the anaerobic degradation potential by the augmented BTEX-adapted consortia under nitrate reducing conditions. All the BTEX substrates could be anaerobically biodegraded to non-detectable levels within 70 d when the initial concentrations were below 100 mg/kg in soil. Toluene was degraded faster than any other BTEX compounds, and the high-to-low order of degradation rates were toluene 〉 ethylbenzene 〉 m-xylene 〉 o-xylene 〉 benzene 〉 p-xylene. Nitrite was accumulated with nitrate reduction, but the accumulation of nitrite had no inhibitory effect on the degradation of BTEX throughout the whole incubation. Indigenous bacteria in the soil could enhance the BTEX biodegradation ability of the enriched mixed bacteria. When the six BTEX compounds were simultaneously present in soil, there was no apparent inhibitory effect on their degradation with lower initial concentrations. Alternatively, benzene, o-xylene, and p-xylene degradation were inhibited with higher initial concentrations of 300 mg/kg. Higher BTEX biodegradation rates were observed in soil samples with the addition of sodium acetate compared to the presence of a single BTEX substrate, and the hypothesis of primary-substrate stimulation or cometabolic enhancement of BTEX biodegradation seems likely.

Biodegradability of four phthalic acid esters under anaerobic condition assessed using natural sediment

Biodegradability of di-n-butyl phthalate （DBP）, butylbenzyl phthalate （BBP）, di-ethylhexyl phthalate （DEHP）, and di-isononyl phthalate （DINP） under an anaerobic condition was evaluated using three natural sediment microcosms obtained from ponds in Osaka, which had not been significantly polluted by the chemicals. The degradabilities of the four phthalic acid esters（PAEs） were analyzed by a first-order kinetic model with a lag phase and ranked as DBP〉BBP〉〉DEHP〉DINP. The PAEs with shorter alkyl-chains, DBP and BBP, were degraded with quite short lag phases near to zero and short half-lives of a few days. The PAEs with longer alkyl-chains, DEHP and DINP, were degraded with lag phases of 5-30 d and the quite long half-lives of a couple of hundred days. Although no data was available on the anaerobic biodegradability of D1NP before this study, it was clarified that DINP can be degraded with slow degradation rates. The fact that all the three intact sediments were capable of biodegradation of the PAEs suggests that potential of anaerobic biodegradation of PAEs is widespread in the aquatic environment.

Anaerobic biodegradability of terephthalic acid and its inhibitory effect on anaerobic digestion

The behavior of terephthalic acid (TPA) in anaerobic system has been studied bysemicontinuous bioassays under mesophilic condition with artificial TPA production wastewater. Theeffect of different loading rate of TPA on anaerobic digestion was studied under certain CODloading rate. The results showed that the TPA could be degraded anaerobically within a relativelylow range. The degradable concentration of TPA was less than 500 mg/L in the digester, higherconcentration of TPA could not be degraded totally and the rate of degradation might decrease withthe increase of feed amount. The inhibition is related to both loading rate and accumulatedconcentration of TPA in the digesters.

Anaerobic degradation of xenobiotic organic contaminants(XOCs):The role of electron flow and potential enhancing strategies

In groundwater,deep soil layer,sediment,the widespread of xenobiotic organic contaminants(XOCs)have been leading to the concern of human health and eco-environment safety,which calls for a better understanding on the fate and remediation of XOCs in anoxic matrices.In the absence of oxygen,bacteria utilize various oxidized substances,e.g.nitrate,sulphate,metallic(hydr)oxides,humic substance,as terminal electron acceptors(TEAs)to fuel anaerobic XOCs degradation.Although there have been increasing anaerobic biodegradation studies focusing on species identification,degrading pathways,community dynamics,systematic reviews on the underlying mechanism of anaerobic contaminants removal from the perspective of electron flow are limited.In this review,we provide the insight on anaerobic biodegradation from electrons aspect-electron production,transport,and consumption.The mechanism of the coupling between TEAs reduction and pollutants degradation is deconstructed in the level of community,pure culture,and cellular biochemistry.Hereby,relevant strategies to promote anaerobic biodegradation are proposed for guiding to an efficient XOCs bioremediation.

Elucidating the removal mechanism of N,N-dimethyldithiocarbamate in an anaerobic-anoxic-oxic activated sludge system

N,N-Dimethyldithiocarbamate （DMDTC） is a typical precursor of N-nitrosodimethylamine （NDMA）. Based on separate hydrolysis, sorption and biodegradation studies of DMDTC, a laboratory-scale anaerobic-anoxic-oxic （AAO） system was established to investigate the removal mechanism of DMDTC in this nutrient removal biological treatment system. DMDTC hydrolyzed easily in water solution under either acidic conditions or strong alkaline conditions, and dimethylamine （DMA） was the main hydrolysate. Under anaerobic, anoxic or oxic conditions, DMDTC was biodegraded and completely mineralized. Furthermore, DMA was the main intermediate in DMDTC biodegradation. In the AAO system, the optimal conditions for both nutrient and DMDTC removal were hydraulic retention time 8 hr, sludge retention time 20 day, mixed-liquor return ratio 3：1 and sludge return ratio 1：1. Under these conditions, the removal efficiency of DMDTC reached 99.5%; the removal efficiencies of chemical organic demand, ammonium nitrogen, total nitrogen and total phosphorus were 90%, 98%, 81% and 93%, respectively. Biodegradation is the dominant mechanism for DMDTC removal in the AAO system, which was elucidated as consisting of two steps： first, DMDTC is transformed to DMA in the anaerobic and anoxic units, and then DMA is mineralized to CO2 and NH3 in the anoxic and oxic units. The mineralization of DMDTC in the biological treatment system can effectively avoid the formation of NDMA during subsequent disinfection processes.

Bioremediation and detoxification of real refinery oily sludge using mixed bacterial cells

Anaerobic biotreatment of real field petroleum refinery oily sludge(PROS)was investigated under using four different organic loads(OLs)in the order ofOL4>OL3>OL2>OL1,in bench-scale bioreactors.The bioremediation of raw PROS was carried out using mixed culture biocatalyst without chemicals addition or any type of pretreatment.The results revealed a potential performance of the used biocatalyst dominated by Pseudomonas aeruginosa(class:Gammaproteo)and Staphylococcus spp.(class:Bacilli)achieving significant removal of chemical oxygen demand(COD)and total petroleum hydrocarbons(TPH).The highest organic removal rate was recorded in OL4 followed by OL3,0L2,OL1,respectively indicating a positive relationship between the percentage removal of organics and their content.Maximum removal efficiencies of 96.7%and 90%were observed for COD and TPH,respectively in OL4 within 14 days only.Analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs)demonstrated that acenaph-thylene and phenanthrene exhibited the maximum removal efficiency(almost complete)among the 8-priority PAHs tested in this study.However,the overall degradation of PAHs in the oily sludge was 83.3%.

Insights on the solubilization products after combined alkaline and ultrasonic pre-treatment of sewage sludge

This work provides insights on the solubilization products after a simultaneous combination of alkaline and ultrasonic （ALK ＋ ULS） pre-treatment of sewage sludge. Soluble chemical oxygen demand （SCOD） increased from 1200 to 11,000 mg/L after such treatment. Organics with molecular weight around 5.6 kDa were solubilized because of the synergistic effect of ultrasound and alkali. Organics with molecular weight larger than 300 kDa increased from 7.8% to 60%, 16% and 42.3% after ULS, ALK and ALK ＋ ULS treatment, respectively. Excitation emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy analysis identified soluble microbial product-like and humic acid-like matters as the main solubilization products. Sludge anaerobic biodegradability was significantly enhanced with the simultaneous application of ALK ＋ ULS pre-treatment. ALK ＋ ULS pre-treatment resulted in 37.8% biodegradability increase compared to the untreated sludge. This value was higher compared to the biodegradability increase induced by individual ALK pre-treatment （5.7%） or individual ULS pre-treatment （20.7%） under the same conditions applied.