Initiation of MTBE Biotreatment in Fluidized-Bed Bioreactors

Stringfellow, William T.; Oh, Keun-Chan

doi:10.1061/(asce)0733-9372(2002)128:9(852)

Cited by 22 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…At steady-state conditions, effluent MTBE concentrations averaged approximately 20 lg/L (99.7% removal). Stringfellow and Oh [29] attained 96% removal of MTBE with effluent concentrations of about 400-500 lg/L in one FBR. They studied cometabolic biodegradation using isopentane as the primary carbon source, and they were able to achieve 98% removal, which corresponded to an effluent MTBE concentration of 200-1,000 lg/L MTBE.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodegradation of methyl tert-butyl ether as a sole carbon source by aerobic granules cultivated in a sequencing batch reactor

Zhang

Zhu

Chen

et al. 2008

Bioprocess Biosyst Eng

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aerobic granules efficient at degrading methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) were successfully developed in a well-mixed sequencing batch reactor (SBR). Treatment efficiency of MTBE in the reactor during the stable operations exceeded 99.8%, and effluent MTBE was consistently below 800 microg/L. The specific MTBE degradation rate was observed to increase with increasing MTBE initial concentrations from 25 to 400 mg/L, peaked at 18.2 mg-MTBE/g-VSS h, and declined with further increases in MTBE concentration as substrate inhibition effects became significant. There was a good fit between these biodegradation data and the Haldane equation (R (2) = 0.976). Microbial community DNA profiling was carried out using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of polymerase chain reaction amplified 16S rDNA. The aerobic granule was found to contain a wide diversity of microorganisms. More than 70% similarity among the samples in the time period examined indicated a highly stable microbial community as the reactor reached the stable operation.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodegradation of methyl tert-butyl ether as a sole carbon source by aerobic granules cultivated in a sequencing batch reactor

Zhang

Zhu

Chen

et al. 2008

Bioprocess Biosyst Eng

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Dynamic experiments demonstrated that an intermittent pentane feeding each 36 h suffices to maintain the MTBE degradation rate without decay, but pentane has to be eventually fed. A different behavior was observed by Stringfellow and Oh (2002) when using two 1.6-l laboratory scale fluidized bed bioreactors equipped with granular activated carbon (GAC) as sorption material and for microbial attachment. MTBE concentrations were between 10 and 50 mg/l corresponding to loads of 20-100 mg/l/day were fed to the bioreactor.…”

Section: Cometabolism In Bioreactors (Ex Situ Treatment)mentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Biomass yield coefficients from 0.09 to 0.44 g biomass/g MTBE and slow specific growth rates, between 0.2 and 0.5 day -1 (Fortin et al 2001) are reported. Cometabolism has been considered an interesting alternative because it uncouples contaminant biodegradation from growth allowing shorter adaptation/propagation periods for biotreatment systems, that could normally take from some weeks (Stringfellow and Oh 2002) to up to 6 months (Fortin and Deshusses 1999a) in aerobic bioreactors with no previous adaptation.…”

Section: Mtbe Pollution Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cometabolism of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) with alkanes

Nava

Morales

Revah

2007

Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The release of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) to the environment, mainly from damaged gasoline underground storage tanks or distribution systems spills, has provoked extended groundwater pollution. Biological treatments are, in general, a good alternative for bioremediation of polluted sites; however, MTBE elimination from environment has constituted a challenge because of its chemical structure and physicochemical properties. The combination of a stable ether link and the branched moiety hinder biodegradation. Initial studies found MTBE to be highly recalcitrant but, in the last decade, reports of its biodegradation have been published first under aerobic conditions and just recently under anaerobic conditions. Microbial MTBE degradation is characterized by bacteria having low growth rates (0.35 day -1 ) and biomass yields (average value 0.24 g biomass/g MTBE). Alternatively, cometabolism (defined as the transformation of a non-growth substrate in the obligate presence of a growth substrate), has been considered since it uncouples biodegradation of the contaminant from growth, reducing the long adaptation and propagation period. This period has been reported to be of several months in systems where it is degraded as sole carbon source. Cometabolic degradation rates are between 0.3 and 61 nmol/min/mg protein (in the same range of direct aerobic metabolism). However, a major concern in MTBE cometabolism is that the accumulation of tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) may, under certain cases, result in an incomplete site cleanup. This paper reviews in detail the implicated enzymes and field treatments for the cometabolism of MTBE degradation with alkanes as growth substrates.

show abstract

“…By studying the data available on MTBE degradation kinetics, Stringfellow et al [2002] concluded that unfavorable MTBE biokinetics dominate environmental fate processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Actually, the addition of co-substrates, like pentane, improved MTBE degradation in biofilters [Garnier et al, 1999]. Stringfellow and Oh [2002] carried out laboratory studies and determined that there were several compounds which could enrich MTBE metabolizing populations, and iso -pentane was found to be the most reliable among all the tested compounds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of<i> Mycobacterium austroafricanum</i> IFP 2012 in a MTBE-Degrading Bioreactor

et al. 2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mycobacterium austroafricanum IFP 2012 is able to slowly grow on methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), a fuel oxygenate widely used as a gasoline additive. The potential of M. austroafricanum IFP 2012 for aerobic MTBE degradation was investigated in the presence of a secondary carbon source, isopropanol. The strain was then tested for MTBE biodegradation at the laboratory-scale in a fixed-bed reactor using perlite as the matrix, and isopropanol was injected once a week to maintain M. austroafricanum IFP 2012 biomass inside the perlite bed. The biofilter was operated for 85 days at an influent flow rate of 20 ml/h by varying the MTBE concentration from 10 to 20 mg/l. The hydraulic retention time was fixed at 5 days. The removal of MTBE depended on the inlet MTBE concentration and a MTBE removal efficiency higher than 99% was obtained for MTBE concentrations up to 15 mg/l. A set of 16S rRNA gene primers specific for M. austroafricanum species was used to analyze the DNA extracted from the biofilter effluent in order to detect the presence of M. austroafricanum IFP 2012 and to estimate the effect of periodic injections of isopropanol on the release of the strain from the perlite bed. The results demonstrated that the injection of isopropanol served to maintain an active MTBE degrading biomass in the biofilter and that this system could be used to effectively treat MTBE contaminated groundwater.

show abstract

Initiation of MTBE Biotreatment in Fluidized-Bed Bioreactors

Cited by 22 publications

References 38 publications

Biodegradation of methyl tert-butyl ether as a sole carbon source by aerobic granules cultivated in a sequencing batch reactor

Biodegradation of methyl tert-butyl ether as a sole carbon source by aerobic granules cultivated in a sequencing batch reactor

Cometabolism of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) with alkanes

Use of<i> Mycobacterium austroafricanum</i> IFP 2012 in a MTBE-Degrading Bioreactor

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About