The cleanup of soils and groundwater contaminated with hydrocarbons is of particular importance in minimizing the environmental impact of petroleum and petroleum products and in preventing contamination of potable water supplies. Consequently, there is a growing industry involved in the treatment of contaminated topsoils, subsoils, and groundwater. The biotreatment methodologies employed for decontamination are designed to enhance in situ degradation by the supply of oxygen, inorganic nutrients, and/or microbial inocula to the contaminated zone. This review considers the fate and effects of hydrocarbon contaminants in terrestrial environments, with particular reference to the factors that limit biodegradation rates. The potential efficiencies, advantages, and disadvantages of biotreatment techniques are discussed and the future research directions necessary for process development are considered.
This paper reviews aspects of the physiology and biochemistry of the microbial biodegradation of alkanes larger than methane, alkenes and alkynes with particular emphasis upon recent developments. Subject areas discussed include: substrate uptake; metabolic pathways for alkenes and straight and branched-chain alkanes; the genetics and regulation of pathways; co-oxidation of aliphatic hydrocarbons; the potential for anaerobic aliphatic hydrocarbon degradation; the potential deployment of aliphatic hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms in biotechnology.
The abilities of the white-rot fungi Chrysosporium lionorurn, Trametes versicolor, Phanerochaete chrysosporiurn and Stereum hirsuturn to mineralize 3,4-dichloroaniline, dieldrin and phenanthrene were investigated. S. hirsutum did not mineralize any of the test compounds but the other strains partly mineralized them all to varying degrees. The relative degradation rates per unit biomass were T. versicolor > C. lionorum > P. chrysosporium. Evidence was obtained for the production of water-soluble metabolic intermediates but no attempt was made to characterize these. It was found that mineral salts-glucose medium supplemented with trace mineral nutrients, vitamins and 1.5 mM 3,4-dimethoxybenzyl alcohol (veratryl alcohol) resulted in the highest mineralization rate. At no time in these experiments was there detectable extracellular ligninase (lignin peroxidase) activity.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.