Microbial degradation, hydrocarbons

A recent suggestion has been to use plants to stimulate the microbial degradation of the hydrocarbon (hydrocarbon phytoremediation). This has yet to receive clear experimental verification, but the plants are proposed to help deUver air to the soil microbes, and to stimulate microbial growth in the rhizosphere by the release of nutrients from the roots. The esthetic appeal of an active phytoremediation project can be very great. 

G. W. Fuhs, The microbial Degradation of Hydrocarbons, Arch. Mikrobiol. 39, 374 (1961). 

Britton LN (1984) Microbial degradation of aliphatic hydrocarbons. In Microbial Degradation of Organic Compounds (Ed DT Gibson), pp. 89-130. Marcel Dekker Inc, New York. 

Trudgill PW (1978) Microbial degradation of alicyclic hydrocarbons. In Developments in Biodegradation of Hydrocarbons-1 (Ed RJ Watkinson), pp. 47-84. Applied Science Publishers Ltd, London. 

Smith MR (1994) The physiology of aromatic hydrocarbon degrading bacteria. In Biochemistry of Microbial Degradation (Ed C Ratledge), pp. 347-378. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. 

Juhasz AL, R Naidu (2000) Bioremediation of high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons a review of the microbial degradation of benzo[a]pyrene. Int Biodet Biodeg 45 57-88. 

Meckenstock RU, B Morasch, R Warthmann, B Schink, E Annweiler, W Michaelis, HH Richnow (1999) C/ C isotope fractionation of aromatic hydrocarbons during microbial degradation. Environ Microbiol 1 409-425. 

Atlas RM (1981) Microbial degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons an environmental perspective Microbiol Revs 45 180-209. 

A further application of the manipulation of microbial activity in the rhizo-sphere is their potential to remediate contaminated land. Bioremediation involves the u.se of microorganisms that break down contaminants. Radwan et al. (255) found that the soil associated with the roots of plants grown in soil heavily contaminated with oil in Kuwait was free of oil residues, presumably as a result of the ability of the resident rhizosphere microflora to degrade hydrocarbons. The use of plants as a means to accumulate pollutants such as heavy metals (256,257) to degrade hydrocarbons and pesticides (255) is already widely implemented and has proven to be successful. In some cases, there is no doubt that it is the plant itself that is responsible for the removal of the contaminants. However, in most... 

Bioventing technology was developed by the U.S. EPA Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory to treat soil contaminated by numerous industrial wastes, which is subjected to aerobic microbial degradation, especially to promote the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.65 It uses a series of air injection probes, each of which is attached to a low-pressure air pump. The air pump operates at extremely low pressures to allow the inflow of oxygen without volatilization of contaminants. Additional additives such as ozone or nutrients may also be supplied to stimulate microbial growth.77... 

Tabak and colleagues111 found most compounds in the group to be subject to significant degradation under experimental aerobic conditions. At least ten of the compounds are subject to biodegradation under anaerobic conditions. Britton112 discusses microbial degradation of aliphatic hydrocarbons in more detail. 

Gibson, O.T. and Subramanian, V., Microbial degradation of aromatic hydrocarbons, in Microbial Degradation of Organic Compounds, Gibson, D.T., Ed., Marcel Dekker, New York, 1984, pp. 181-252. 

Groenewegen, D., Stolp, H. (1975) Microbial degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Erdoel Kohle, Erdgas, Pentrachem. Bremst. Chem. 28(4), 206. 

Braddock, J.F. and Z. Richter. 1998. Microbial Degradation of Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Marine Sediments. U.S. Dept. Interior, OCS Study MMS 97-0041. 82 pp. 

Volkering, F., Breure, A. M., Sterkenburg, A. and van Andel, J. G. (1992). Microbial degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons effect of substrate availability on bacterial growth kinetics, Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 36, 548-552. 

Leahy GL, Colwell RR. 1990. Microbial degradation of hydrocarbons in the environment. Microbiol Rev 54(3) 305-315. 

Hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms are ubiquitous in most ecosystems [32,117] however, it is often very difficult to prove that transformation, degradation, and mineralization actually occur in the environment because it is difficult to distinguish contributions from biotic and abiotic processes under uncontrolled conditions in the natural environment [338]. In contrast, laboratory assays can provide definitive evidence for microbial degradation, and sterilized samples can be used to determine abiotic losses. Thus, contributions from microbial degradation can be differentiated from abiotic loss by a mass balance... 

Microbial degradation in soils is greatest for the aromatic fractions of fuel oils, while the biodegradation of the aliphatic hydrocarbons decreases with increasing carbon chain length. Evaporation is the primary fate process for these aliphatics (Air Force 1989). 

The Bugs-hPlus product consists of two basic components, a nutrient source and microbes cultured for their ability to digest oil and other petroleum derivatives. The nutrient source is provided to encourage rapid microbial growth, which will be accompanied by microbial degradation of the hydrocarbon contaminants in sod. 

Knackmuss, H.-J., Degradation of halogenated and sulfonated hydrocarbons . In Microbial Degradation of Xenobiotics and Recalcitrant Compounds, Academic, T. Leisinger, R. Hiitter, A. M. Cook and J. Niiesch, Eds., New York, 1981, pp. 189-212. 

Cerniglia, C. E. Heitkamp, M. A. (1989). Microbial degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the aquatic environment. In Metabolism of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Aquatic Environment, ed. U. Varanasi, pp. 41-68. Boca Raton, FL CRC Press. 

Cerniglia, C. E., Sutherland, J. B. Crow, S. A. (1992). Fungal metabolism of aromatic hydrocarbons. In Microbial Degradation of Natural Products, ed. G. Winkelmann, pp. 193-217. Weinheim VCH Press. 

Gibson, D.T. Subramanian, V. (1984). Microbial degradation of aromatic hydrocarbons. 

---