title: Biological removal of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins from incinerator fly ash by Sphingomonas wittichii RW1.
abstract: The ability of Sphingomonas wittichii strain RW1 to remove polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) from fly ash was investigated. All experiments were carried out in a slurry-phase system. Preliminary studies with resting cells of strain RW1 in a model fly ash system showed the complete removal of dibenzofuran (DF) and 81% of dibenzo-p-dioxin (DD). Incubation of real fly ash collected from municipal waste incinerators with strain RW1 for 15 days resulted in a 75.5% reduction in toxic PCDDs. When the same experiment was carried out using dead strain RW1 cells a 20.2% reduction in toxic PCDDs was observed, indicating that adsorption onto biomass was an important factor in dioxin elimination. Further analyses revealed that live strain RW1 cells removed 83.8% of the 2,3,7,8-substituted congeners from the fly ash, while dead cells removed 32.1% of the same congeners. To enhance the removal efficiency of toxic PCDDs, the effects of adding surfactant, repeated inoculation, and pre-adaptation of cultures were also studied. The removal of toxic PCDDs was enhanced by up to 10.3% upon repeated inoculation of the strain RW1, but was not much affected by the addition of surfactant. The present results suggest that S. wittichii strain RW1 is a potential candidate for the industrial removal of PCDDs from incinerator fly ash.
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang 790-784, Korea.
authors.forename: In-Hyun
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.forename: Hyo-Bong
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Young-Mo
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Byung-Hoon
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kumarasamy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Murugesan
authors.forename: Yoon-Seok
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000391:Air Microbiology; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D060729:Coal Ash; D017745:Incineration; D052638:Particulate Matter; D000072317:Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D020578:Sphingomonas / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D060729:Coal Ash; D052638:Particulate Matter; D000072317:Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins; D002244:Carbon