Affiliation:
1. Shell Development Company, Westhollow Research Center, Houston, Texas 77251-1380
Abstract
We have isolated a mixed bacterial culture (BC-1) which is capable of degrading the gasoline oxygenate methyl
t
-butyl ether (MTBE). BC-1 was developed from seed microorganisms present in a chemical plant biotreater sludge. This enrichment culture has been maintained in continuous culture treating high concentrations of MTBE (120 to 200 mg/liter) as the sole carbon source in a simple feed containing NH
4
+
, PO
4
3-
, Mg
2+
, and Ca
2+
nutrients. The unit had a stable MTBE removal rate when maintained with a long cell retention time (ca. 80 to 90 days); however, when operated at a ≤50-day cell waste rate, loss of MTBE-degrading activity was observed. The following three noteworthy experimental data show that MTBE is biodegraded extensively by BC-1: (i) the continuous (oxygen-sparged) culture was able to sustain a population of autotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria which could nitrify influent NH
4
+
concentrations at high rates and obtain CO
2
(sole carbon source for growth) from the metabolism of the alkyl ether, (ii) BC-1 metabolized radiolabeled either (
14
CH
3
O-MTBE) to
14
CO
2
(40%) and
14
C-labeled cells (40%), and (iii) cell suspensions of the culture were capable of degrading (substrate depletion experiments) MTBE to
t
-butyl alcohol, a primary metabolite of MTBE. BC-1 is a mixed culture containing several bacterial species and is the first culture of its kind which can completely degrade an alkyl ether.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Ecology,Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology,Food Science,Biotechnology
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