BIODEGRADATION OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS SEQUESTERED IN ORGANIC SOLIDS OR IN NANOPORES WITHIN SILICA PARTICLES

Abstract

A study was conducted using model solids to determine whether the time-dependent decline in availability for biodegradation of organic pollutants in soil might result from the entrapment of these compounds in porous or nonporous solids. A strain of Pseudomonas mineralized phenanthrene in solid alkanes containing 18 to 32 carbons, three waxes, and low-molecular-weight polycaprolactone, polyethylene, and polypropylene. The rates were appreciably slower than when the substrate was not initially present within these nonporous solids. From 1.4 to 63.4% of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon added to the solids was mineralized in 90 d. The rates and extents of partitioning of phenanthrene varied markedly among the solids. The rates of partitioning and biodegradation of phenanthrene initially present in the alkanes were positively correlated. The bacterium rapidly and extensively mineralized phenanthrene provided in calcium alginate beads containing varying amounts of soluble soil organic matter. The rates and extents of phenanthrene mineralization declined as the percentage of the substrate in the nanopores within silica particles increased, but the reductions in rate, extent, or both were less pronounced than with nonporous solids. The rate of 4-nitrophenol biodegradation also declined with increasing percentages of the compound in these nanopores. The data are consistent with hypotheses that the sequestration and consequent decrease in bioavailability of organic compounds that persist in soil result from their partitioning into organic matter or their presence within nanopores in soil.