Enhancing the Biodegradation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Effects of Nonionic Surfactant Addition on Biofilm Function and Structure
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 7
Abstract
The application of surfactants for the bioremediation of sites contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons has been widely reported, because they are known to increase PAH solubility and desorption, thereby enhancing their bioavailability to biofilm microorganisms. The effects of a nonionic surfactant on the biodegradation of PAHs in porous media, as well as the fate of the surfactant, were investigated in this study. Column experiments in the presence of the surfactant showed that the degradation of the two-ring PAH alone was not significantly affected, but that there was a small enhancement of three- and four-ring PAH degradation when they were present as sole substrates and when using Triton X-100. This was due to the higher solubility of the PAHs in the presence of the surfactant. Biofilm seemed to respond well to binary mixtures of phenanthrene–naphthalene and pyrene–naphthalene, with removals of 45.5 and 24.1%, respectively, in the presence of the surfactant; however, higher biodegradations were always achieved by having just PAH mixtures without the surfactant, indicating the importance of cometabolic mechanisms over improved solubilization of PAHs. Optical sections taken using a confocal laser scanning microscope allowed observation of a heterogeneous web-like matrix of biofilm, with diverse biological aggregate structures.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 17 (NIEHS), under the Superfund Basic Research Program (SBRP) (Grant No. P42ES04908-18/Project 5).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 7 • July 2008
Pages: 505 - 512
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 20, 2006
Accepted: Oct 8, 2007
Published online: Jul 1, 2008
Published in print: Jul 2008
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