Pedosphere 25(2): 169--176, 2015
ISSN 1002-0160/CN 32-1315/P
©2015 Soil Science Society of China
Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press
| Using a two-liquid-phase system to investigate the biodegradation of trichlorobenzenes |
SONG Yang, WANG Fang, BIAN Yong-Rong, YE Mao and JIANG Xin |
| State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008 (China) |
| ABSTRACT |
| Due to easy volatilization of volatile organic compounds from water, it is difficult to monitor their aerobic biodegradation in the traditional single water system. Whether a two-liquid-phase system (TLPS) could overcome this obstacle and enhance the degradation of volatile contaminants? In this study, a TLPS composed of silicone oil and water was employed to investigate the biodegradation of volatile compounds, trichlorobenzenes (TCBs), by the adapted microorganisms in an activated soil. The degradation and volatilization of TCBs in TLPS and in a single water system were compared. The results showed that due to volatilization losses of TCBs, the mass balance of TCBs in a single water system was very low. In contrast, using TLPS could effectively inhibit the volatilization losses of TCBs and achieved a very good mass balance during the biodegradation process. Meanwhile, the TLPS could increase microbial activity and microbial growth during the degradation process. With TLPS, the TCB degradation was in descending order of 1,2,4-TCB > 1,2,3-TCB >> 1,3,5-TCB, which was related to the exposed concentration of the contaminants in soil. This study showed that TLPS could be employed as an effective tool to evaluate the biodegradation of volatile hydrophobic organic compounds, which could not be achieved with the traditional single water system. |
| Key Words: activated soil, degradation, silicone oil, volatile organic compound, volatilization |
| Citation: Song, Y., Wang, F., Bian, Y. R., Ye, M. and Jiang, X. 2015. Using a two-liquid-phase system to investigate the biodegradation of trichlorobenzenes. Pedosphere. 25(2): 169-176. |
|
View Full Text
|
|
|
|
