The aerobic transformation of TCE and cis-DCE by a tetrabutoxysilane-grown microorganism (Vancheeswaran et al., 1999) led to the investigation of novel substrates, including benzyl alcohol, for promoting cometabolism. The culture grew on carboxylic compounds and alcohols, but did not grow on formate, methanol, methane, propane, butane, ethylene, benzene, toluene, or...
This thesis explores the factors limiting the alkene substrate range of the vinyl chloride (VC)-utilizing bacteria, and describes a method for measuring VC transformation in situ. Vinyl fluoride (VF) was evaluated as a surrogate for monitoring aerobic VC-transformation utilizing three isolates, Mycobacterium EE13a, Mycobacterium JS60 and Nocardioides JS614. JS614 grew...
This dissertation explores the physiology and gene expression of the ammonia-oxidizing bacterium Nitrosomonas europaea in surface-associated bacterial communities, or biofilms. Biofilms of N. europaea were cultivated in drip flow reactors for several weeks and gene expression microarrays were used to detect 240 genes differentially expressed between the mature biofilms and...
This research focused on anaerobic transformation of trichloroethene (TCE), a
groundwater contaminant. The mixed anaerobic Evanite culture (EV) was studied to determine community behavior and composition responses to different electron donors and chloroethene electron acceptors. The potential toxicity from high concentrations of TCE and its daughter product cis-1,2-dichloroethene (cDCE) was...
This study evaluated the potential of the aerobic Mycobacterium strain JS6O to grow on a variety of organic acid substrates, and the possible effects an organic acid would have on the degradation rate of vinyl chloride (VC). A series of batch growth tests were designed to determine the time it...
Batch microcosm studies were carried out to screen for microorganisms from the
subsurface of Hanford DOE site that could cometabolically transform chloroform (CF)
under aerobic conditions. The potential need for CF bioremediation at the Hanford site
has resulted from the large release of carbon tetrachloride (CT) to the subsurface, of...
The goal of this research was to mathematically simulate the ability of bioaugmented microorganisms to aerobically cometabolize a mixture of chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbon (CAH) compounds during in-situ treatment. Parameter values measured from laboratory experiments were applied to the transport model with biotransformation processes included. In laboratory microcosm studies, a butane-grown,...
Halogenated organic compounds have had widespread and massive applications in industry, agriculture, and private households, for example, as degreasing solvents, flame retardants and in polymer production. They are released to the environment through both anthropogenic and natural sources. The most common chlorinated solvents present as contaminants include tetrachloroethene (PCE, perchloroethene)...