Phthalate esters biodegradation

Yan H, Ye C, Yin C (1995) Kinetics of phthalate ester biodegradation by Chlorella pyrenoidsa. Environ Toxicol Chem 14 931-938... 

Wang Y, Fan Y, Gu J-D (2004) Dimethyl phthalate ester degradation by two planktonic and immobilized bacterial consortia. Int Biodeterior Biodegrad 53 93-101... 

Xu XR, Li HB, Gu J-D (2005a) Biodegradation of an endocrine-disrupting chemical di- -butyl phthalate ester by Pseudomonas fluorescens B-l. Int Biodeterior Biodegrad 55 9-15... 

Urushigawa Y, Yonezawa Y. 1979. Chemico-biological interactions in biological purification systems VI. Relation between biodegradation rate constants of di-n-alkyl phthalate esters and their retention times in reverse phase partition chromatography. Chemosphere 5 317-320. 

Sugatt, R.H., O Grady, D.P., Banerjee, S.. Howard. P.H., and Gledhill, W.E. Shake flask biodegradation of 14 commercial phthalate esters, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 47(4) 601-606, 1984. 

O Grady DP, Howard PH 1984. Activated sludge biodegradation of 12 commercial phthalate esters. Report to Chemical Manufacturers Association by Syracuse Research Corporation. Contract No. PE-17.0-ET-SRC. SRC L1553-03. 

Other PAEs, such as di-butyl phthalate (DBP) and di-methyl phthalate (DMP) show very low concentrations (Amir et al., 2005). Several studies have been carried out to assess the biodegradability and bioremediation of phthalate esters by composting and results have so far been promising. Some selected but hopefully representative findings of such studies are discussed hereafter. 

Microbial decontamination of effluents from phthalate esters. In Biodeterioration and Biodegradation. Papers of the 10th International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation Symposium, DECHEMA Monographs, ed. W. Sand. Frankfurt Schon Wetzler, pp. 607-10. 

Shake flask biodegradation of 14 commercial phthalate esters. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 47, 601-6. 

Russell, D.J., McDuffie, B., Fineberg, S. (1985) The effect of biodegradation on the determination of some chemodynamic properties of phthalate esters. J. Environ. Sci. Health A20, 927-941. 

Urushigawa, Y., and Y. Yonezawa (1979), Chemicobiological Interactions in Biological Purification System VI. Relation between Biodegradation Rate Constants of Di-u alkyl Phthalate Esters and Their Retention Times in Reverse Phase Partition Chromatography, Chemosphere 5, 317-320. 

Hashizume, K., Nanya, J., Toda, C., Yasui, T., Nagano, H., and Kojima, N., Phthalate esters detected in various water samples and biodegradation of phthalates by microbes isolated from river water, Biol. Pharm. Bull, 25, 209-214, 2002. 

DMP and DBP with the short alkyl-side chain phthalates can be degraded, whereas the DOP degradation under the same experimental conditions appeared to be relatively slow. It is noteworthy that both the ester groups and the phthalate ring were mineralized at a significant rate. The kinetics study demonstrated that biodegradation of the three phthalates conformed to a first-order model with respect to their concentrations. 

Schwartz et al. [2] investigated the biodegradation of phthalic acid esters adsorbed in river sediments by repeated analysis of the sediment over a two-week period. The di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate content turned out to remain essentially constant (s.d., 5% n=10), irrespective of the absence or presence of a microbial inhibitor (500ppm of sodium azide or mercuric chloride added immediately after sampling) i.e. no marked biodegradation occurred. 

In a static-culture-flask screening test, diethyl phthalate showed significant biodegradation with rapid adaptation. The ester (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 was achieved (Tabak et al, 1981). 

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