title: Biofiltration of gasoline and diesel aliphatic hydrocarbons.
abstract: The ability of a biofilm to switch between the mixtures of mostly aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons was investigated to assess biofiltration efficiency and potential substrate interactions. A switch from gasoline, which consisted of both aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, to a mixture of volatile diesel n-alkanes resulted in a significant increase in biofiltration efficiency, despite the lack of readily biodegradable aromatic hydrocarbons in the diesel mixture. This improved biofilter performance was shown to be the result of the presence of larger size (C₉-C(12)) linear alkanes in diesel, which turned out to be more degradable than their shorter-chain (C₆-C₈) homologues in gasoline. The evidence obtained from both biofiltration-based and independent microbiological tests indicated that the rate was limited by biochemical reactions, with the inhibition of shorter chain alkane biodegradation by their larger size homologues as corroborated by a significant substrate specialization along the biofilter bed. These observations were explained by the lack of specific enzymes designed for the oxidation of short-chain alkanes as opposed to their longer carbon chain homologues.
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Chemical Technology , Prague , Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Halecky
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rousova
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Paca
authors.forename: Evguenii
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kozliak
authors.forename: Wayne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Seames
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D018441:Biofilms; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000379:methods*; D005374:Filtration; D005658:Fungi / Q000502:physiology*; D005742:Gasoline; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000378:metabolism*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005742:Gasoline; D006838:Hydrocarbons; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical