ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY New Biotechnology · Volume 31S · July 2014

PH-10

Biomolecules for Environmental Application: Direct Useof Biorecovered Precious Metal Catalyst from ArtificialWastewater for Chlorinated Environmental PollutantDegradation

Ian Sofian Yunus ∗ , Shen-Long Tsai

National Taiwan University of Science and Technology

In the last decades, precious metals have been extensivelystudied for their potential use as catalysts for chlorinated pol-lutant degradations. These pollutants are resulted from variousindustrial processes, groundwater, pharmaceuticals wastewatertreatment plant (WWTP) effluents, and many other sources. Inthis study, a new recovery method of precious metal catalyst fordechlorination of environmental pollutant was examined. Theprecious metal catalyst was produced by reduction of its ionic state,which was recovered from artificial wastewater, using biomoleculesbased adsorbent. This study demonstrates that the newly discov-ered biorecovery concept of precious metal catalyst from artificalwastewater using biomolecules based adsorbent and its direct useas catalyst for chorinated pollutant degradation are both feasibleand applicable.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nbt.2014.05.1949

PH-11

Degradation of recalcitrant polymers and synthetic dyesby microrganisms isolated from polluted soils

Ashutosh Kumar Verma1,∗ , Dornakova Veronika2, Hana Kotulova2,Katerina Malachova2, Cenek Novotny3

1 University of Ostrava2 Ostrava University3 Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

An attempt was made to isolate microorganisms which mayhave potential to degrade polymer plastics and recalcitrantorganopollutants. The prescreening was carried out on agar platescontaining 100 ppm of a model dye, Azure B, whose decolorizationwas considered to be a tool indicating an enhanced degrada-tion capacity towards recalcitrant polymers and xenobiotics. Thecompost, sludge and polymer-polluted soils had been used for iso-lation. More than 50 monocultures including bacteria, yeast andfungi belonging to various genera showed efficient decolorizationof Azure B. Identification of the isolates was carried out using ribo-somal molecular markers. A few isolates had been used for thedegradation of virgin and pre-treated plastic polymers with limitedsuccess. Culture-independent approach was applied to assess thediversity of microbial communities in polymer-polluted soil(s). Afungal isolate affiliated with Trametes sp. had been further used forthe decolorization of an anthraquinone dye, Remazol Brilliant BlueR (RBBR) at a concentration of 50 ppm. Our aim was to evaluatethe efficiency and behaviour of the fungus under the conditionsof rotating biological contactor reactor in both batch and contin-uous mode. The results indicated that the selected fungal species

can decolorize RBBR more efficiently in continous mode than inbatch mode.

Acknowledgements:The research wassupported by the following projects: OPVK

CZ 1.07/2.3.00/30.0019, FP7-KBBE-2012-6-singlestage no. 312100BIOCLEAN, CZ.1.05/2.100/03.0100 (IET) and CR National Feasi-bility Programme I no.LO1208.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nbt.2014.05.1950

PH-12

Composting of creosote-impregnated wood via com-posting with green wastes: Ecotoxicity and microbialcommunity dynamics during polycyclic aromatic hydro-carbons degradation process

Stefano Covino ∗ , Zdena Kresinová, Monika Cvancarová, AlenaFilipová, Tomas Cajthaml

Institute of Microbiology AS CR, v.v.i

Composting has been shown to be a suitable bioremediationmethod for the clean-up of polluted matrices. In our pilot-scaletest, creosote-impregnated wood with an overall polycyclic aro-matic hydrocarbons (PAH) contamination of 26498 mg kg-1 wasthe target material and two different substrates were used as bulk-ing agents, namely grass cuttings and pre-treated broiler litter.Incubation took place in 400 l static composters over a periodof 240 days (40 days active composting followed by 200 daysmaturation). The effectiveness of the two composting processeswas comparatively evaluated throughout the whole incubationperiod by means of contaminant degradation analyses and tox-icological testing whereas shifts in microbial community structurewere assessed via phosholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA) and 454-pyrosequencing. The grass substrate promoted an almost completeremoval (i.e. 97%) of the total PAH content in creosote wood, whileoverall PAH depletion using broiler litter as bulking agent was 81%of the original concentration. The acute toxicity test towards theluminescent bacterium Vibrio fischeri and the phytotoxicity testbased on germinability of barley seeds (Hordeum vulgare L.) showedthat the PAH degradation process was accompanied by a significantdrop in toxicity. Regardless of the treatment typology, PLFA pro-filing highlighted an increased incidence of Gram- bacteria andfungi in the crucial phases of PAH dissipation. Morevoer, fungiappeared to be dominant also in the maturation phase, especiallywhen broiler litter was the substrate. Pyrosequencing analyses of16S rRNA and ITS gene sequences for bacteria and fungi respec-tively, are in progress.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nbt.2014.05.1951

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