The Deterioration of Rubber Products by Micro‐Organisms

Abstract

ALTHOUGH rubber is generally regarded as being relatively inert, it is slowly attacked by certain microorganisms. This first came to the attention of the senior author when, due to a shortage of glass-stoppered bottles, an attempt was made to supplement them with rubber-stoppered bottles for studying the RO.D. of sea water. Almost invariably it was found that more oxygen was consumed by micro-organisms in sea water in the presence of rubber than in its absence. Even the small amount of rubber gasket exposed to the water in citrate of magnesia bottles caused an increase in the amount of oxygen consumed after 5 to 10 days incubation at 25°C. The examination of heat-sterilized and chemically preserved controls indicated that the majority of the increased oxygen consumption was caused by biological activity.An extension of these observations and a precursory review of the literature reveals that various kinds of natural and synthetic rubber are attacked by numerous microbial species representing several genera.

Action of Microörganisms on Hydrocarbons 1

“…In his studies on the disappearance of ethylene, H2C=CH2, from ripe apples and bananas, Nelson (96) overlooked the possibility of the microbial consumption of ethylene. The susceptibility to microbial attack of natural and synthetic rubbers, which are essentially polymers of unsaturated hydrocarbons, indicates that at least certain kinds of unsaturated hydrocarbons are easily oxidized by micro6rganisms (179). In recent experiments, we (178) have observed that cetene, C16Hrs, was oxidized from 13 to 30% faster by Desulfovibrio species than was cetane, C16H34.…”

“…Oxygen consumption in 60-ml glass-stoppered bottles of mineral solutions enriched with hydrocarbons as the only source of energy has been used for studying the occurrence and behavior of hydrocarbon oxidizers in marine materials (181). The same procedure has been used for studying the microbial assimilation of rubber hydrocarbons (179).…”

“…Some of the literature on the microbial utilization of petroleum hydrocarbons has been summarized in short reviews by Hessel (67), Tausson (144), Bushnell and Haas (19), Strawinski (132) and ZoBell et al (181). The literature on the microbial utilization of rubber hydrocarbons has been summarized by ZoBell and Beckwith (179). MINERAL…”

Microbial oxidation of mineral oils in Barataria Bay bottom deposits

“…The quantity of oxygen consumed by the microbial attack of the rubber stoppers is negligibly small under ordinary experimental conditions as indicated by results in controls to which no oil was added (see second line of data in Table 6). In long-term or highly quantitative experiments, though, it must be recognized that most Binds of natural, compounded, and synthetic rubbers are slightly susceptible to microbial oxidation (ZOBELL and BECKWITH, 1944;BLAKE et al 1955). …”

Assimilation of Hydrocarbons by Microorganisms

“…Oxygen consumption, in a glass-stoppered bottle filled to capacity with mineral solution enriched with hydrocarbon as the sole source of energy, has been used for studying the microbial oxidation of petroleum (77,234) and rubber (232) hydrocarbons. This B.O.D.…”