A laboratory‐scale, batch‐type, in‐vessel composter was charged with simulated municipal solid waste deliberately contaminated with a mixture of 3‐ and 4‐ringed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The extent of their biodegradation was monitored over a 2‐month period (30 days of active composting and 30 days of compost curing) by use of soxhlet extraction and gas chromatography analysis. The results indicated that most of biodegradation occurred in the active composting phase and very little occurred during the curing phase of the composting process. Fluorene was too volatile for this type of bioremediation, and benz[a]anthracene was persistent in the compost throughout both phases of the experiment. Anthracene, phenanthrene, and pyrene showed excellent reduction in the actively composting phase, in contrast to their mercuric chloride–poisoned controls, indicating that biodegradation (not abiotic mechanisms) was the removal process from the composting mass.
Mercenaria mercenaria, exposed in vitro for 48 h to nine parent polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) found in waste crankcase oil (WCCO) and analyzed by multiparametric analysis over a 45-day depuration period in an activated carbon filtration aquaria system, did not depurate PAHs, but rather maintained them at detectable levels. Uptake of PAHs was shown to be directly related to clam weight. A cluster analysis of empirical results reaffirmed a biostabilization in PAH groupings in clam tissue over a 45-day depuration period and exhibited no evidence of a decreasing trend in total PAHs when subjected to ANOVA. Due to the commercial importance of hard-shell clams, the practices of clam depuration and clam relaying are reviewed in light of potential long-term public health exposures to low-level xenobiotics and the implications for human consumers.
Laboratory scale anaerobic and aerobic treatment units were conditioned with a daily slug-feed of glucose. After a period of acclimation and stabilization, glucose disappearance was monitored continuously after the slug feed. A continuous sampling apparatus is described. Mathematical analysis of the data indicate zero-order reactions for both biological treatment systems.
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