To manage risk or to implement natural attenuation as a remedy, regulatory agencies must understand the processes that attenuate methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE) in ground water. Most case studies and laboratory studies in the literature indicate that natural biodegradation is not important; however, recent reports indicate that natural biodegradation of MTBE plays an important role under certain...

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is a widespread groundwater contaminant that does not respond well to conventional treatment technologies. Growing evidence indicates that microbial communities indigenous to groundwater can degrade MTBE under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Although pure cultures of microorganisms able to degrade or cometabolize MTBE have been reported, to date the specific org...

We have isolated a mixed bacterial culture (BC-1) which is capable of degrading the gasoline oxygenate methyl t-butyl ether (MTBE). BC-1 was developed from seed microorganisms present in a chemical plant biotreater sludge. This enrichment culture has been maintained in continuous culture treating high concentrations of MTBE (120 to 200 mg/liter) as the sole carbon source in a simple feed contai...

Methyl-t-butyl-ether (MTBE) has become a prevalent groundwater pollutant due to its high volume use as a nationwide gasoline additive. Given its physicochemical properties, it requires new treatment approaches. Both aqueous O(3) and a combination of O(3)/H(2)O(2), which gives *OH, can remove MTBE from water, making use of O(3) a viable technology for remediation of groundwater from fuel contami...

Among the few bacteria known to utilize methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) as a sole carbon source, Methylibium petroleiphilum PM1 is a well-characterized organism with a sequenced genome; however, knowledge of the genetic regulation of its MTBE degradation pathway is limited. We investigated the role of a putative transcriptional activator gene, mdpC, in the induction of MTBE-degradation genes mdp...

The potential for aerobic methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) degradation was investigated with microcosms containing aquifer sediment and groundwater from four MTBE-contaminated sites characterized by oxygen-limited in situ conditions. MTBE depletion was observed for sediments from two sites (e.g., 4.5 mg/liter degraded in 15 days after a 4-day lag period), whereas no consumption of MTBE was observ...

Degradation of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) vapors by cometabolism with pentane using a culture of pentane-oxidizing bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) was studied in a 2.4-L biofilter packed with vermiculite, an inert mineral support. Experimental pentane elimination capacity (EC) of approximately 12 g m(-3) h(-1) was obtained for an empty bed residence time (EBRT) of 1.1 h and inlet concentr...

Methyl tert-butyl alcohol (MTBE) is a gasoline additive that is also a common groundwater contaminant because of its high water solubility and the tendency of underground storage tanks to leak. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX) are gasoline components that commonly co-occur with MTBE at the source of a spill. Biodegradation is an attractive treatment option for MTBE, however, tw...

Recently, pervaporation separation processes have gained much attention in the separation of azeotropic and close boiling point organic-organic mixtures due to its high separation efficiency, economy, safety, and energy saving potentials. In this work, the effects of experimental factors such as feed composition and operating temperature on the performance of a commercial poly vinyl alcohol mem...