Methanogenic flowthrough aquifer columns were used to investigate the potential of bioaugmentation to enhance anaerobic benzene-toluene-ethylbenzene-xylene (BTEX) degradation in groundwater contaminated with ethanol-blended gasoline. Two different methanogenic consortia (enriched with benzene or toluene and o-xylene) were used as inocula. Toluene was the only hydrocarbon degraded within 3 years...

In order to describe the transformations of tannic acid during its degradation (under aerobic and anaerobic conditions) incubations were performed. To evaluate the oxygen consumption, the tannic acid was added to 1 L of water sample from Monjolinho's reservoir (22 degrees 00'S and 47 degrees 54'W); these solutions were aerated and the dissolved oxygen was monitored for 16 days, the anaerobic pr...

Studies of anaerobic benzene ring degradation date back 50 years, but research on this topic proceeded only sporadically until about 10 years ago. At that time, concerns about toxic industrial wastes converged with a realization that many polluted environments are anaerobic to stimulate a renewed and sustained interest in the anaerobic metabolism of aromatic compounds. It is now clear that a wi...

--Gaseous phosphine was found to inhibit biogas formation during the anaerobic fermentation of swine manure. A logarithmic dose-response correlation was obtained with 50% inhibition at a phosphine concentration of approximately 150 ppm. Anaerobic fermentation of acetate and yeast extract measured by biogas formation were not affected at concentrations up to 1000 ppm. Despite the relative tolera...

UNLABELLED The pathways involved in aromatic compound oxidation under perchlorate and chlorate [collectively known as (per)chlorate]-reducing conditions are poorly understood. Previous studies suggest that these are oxygenase-dependent pathways involving O2 biogenically produced during (per)chlorate respiration. Recently, we described Sedimenticola selenatireducens CUZ and Dechloromarinus chlor...

In biological wastewater treatment high lipid concentration is known to inhibit microorganisms and cause active biomass flotation. To reduce lipid inhibition, a two-phase anaerobic system, consisting of an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) and an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor, was applied to synthetic dairy wastewater. During 153 days of operation, the two-phase system ...

The bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris grows with the aromatic acid benzoate and the alicyclic acid cyclohexanecarboxylate (CHC) as sole carbon sources. The enzymatic steps in an oxygen-independent pathway for CHC degradation have been elucidated, but it was unknown how the CHC operon (badHI aliAB badK) encoding the enzymes for CHC degradation was regulated. aliA and aliB encode enzymes for t...

Combined with conventional methods, developments in both geochemical (delineation of redox processes) and molecular microbial methods (analysis of 16S rDNA genes and functional genes) have allowed us to study in details microorganisms and genes involved in the anaerobic degradation of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) under specific redox conditions. This review summarizes recent...

Complete bioremediation of soils containing multiple volatile organic compounds (VOCs) remains a challenge. To explore the possibility of complete bioremediation through integrated anaerobic-aerobic biodegradation, laboratory feasibility tests followed by alternate anaerobic-aerobic and aerobic-anaerobic biodegradation tests were performed. Chlorinated ethylenes, including tetrachloroethylene (...