《Biodegradation of xylene and butyl acetate using an aqueous-silicon oil》.pdf

Biodegradation 10: 193–200, 1999. 193 © 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. Biodegradation of xylene and butyl acetate using an aqueous-silicon oil two-phase system H. Gardin, J.M. Lebeault A. Pauss D´epartement de G´enie Chimique, Universit´e de Technologie de Compi`egne, BP 20.529, 60205 Compi`egne cedex, France ( author for correspondence) Accepted 27 January 1999 Key words: biodegradation, butyl acetate, selection of microorganisms, silicon oil, two-phase aqueous-organic system, xylene Abstract A stable microbial population, consisting of seven bacterial strains and three yeast strains, was selected in batch cultures on a mixture of ortho and meta-xylene and butyl acetate as the sole source of carbon and energy. This population can completely degrade up to 10 g/L of a mixture of these xenobiotics (70% xylene and 30% butyl acetate wt/wt) in a two-phase aqueous-silicone oil system (70%/30% vol/vol) within 96 h, while for the usual one- phase system very low growth degradation rates were observed. Further organic solvents were tested and finally, silicon oil was selected as the best organic phase for such a two-phase system. With periodical pH adjustments to 6.0 in fed-batch mode, the culture showed a global degradation rate of 63 mg L1 h1. Introduction Gibson et al. 1974). The ortho-xylene can be degraded by Pseudomonas stutzeri via a supposed direct oxy- Numerous organic synthetic compounds are dis- genation of the aromatic nucleus followed by meta charged into the environment by industrial and do- pathway reactions (Baggi et al. 1987). Oldenhuis et al mestic human activities in too large quantities to be have also selecte