Formaldehyde anaerobic degradation

Estimated Free Energy Changes of Selected Biological Reactions Involved in the Anaerobic Degradation of Formaldehyde and Methanol... 

Biological. Complete microbial degradation to carbon dioxide was reported under anaerobic conditions by mixed or pure cultures. Under enzymatic conditions formaldehyde was the only product reported (Vogel et al., 1987). In a static-culture-flask screening test, methylene chloride (5 and 10 mg/L) was statically incubated in the dark at 25 °C with yeast extract and settled domestic wastewater inoculum. After 7 d, 100% biodegradation with rapid adaptation was observed (Tabak et al., 1981). 

Summary. This paper supports the use of formaldehyde at economically feasible concentrations as a biocide for EOR processes that use xanthan biopolymer. Its biocidal action against anaerobic sessile xanthan-degrading field organisms was clearly superior to three other biocides tested when 100% kill was used as the criterion for effectiveness. 

Other important munitions contaminants receiving study are RDX and HMX. Strict anaerobes appear to degrade these compounds efficiently (18, 22, 34). RDX appears to be reduced sequentially to its nitroso derivatives, and formaldehyde and methanol seem to be biodegradation products (22). The basis for the diauxic process by which both anaerobic consortia (13) and pure Clostridium strains (27) degrade TNT from munitions mixtures prior to RDX needs investigation. Are different reductive enzyme systems used for TNT and RDX, and are they induced sequentially Do similar enzymes reduce both, but preferentially reduce the substrates and their partial reduction products according to their redox potentials The reviews of Kaplan (18) and Walker and Kaplan (34) provide a summary of RDX and HMX... 

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