title: Anoxic biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in saline media using denitrifier biogranules.
abstract: The total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) biodegradation was examined using biogranules at different initial TPH concentration and contact time under anoxic condition in saline media. The circular compact biogranules having the average diameter between 2 and 3mm were composed of a dense population of Bacillus spp. capable of biodegrading TPH under anoxic condition in saline media were formed in first step of the study. The biogranules could biodegrade over 99% of the TPH at initial concentration up to 2g/L at the contact time of 22h under anoxic condition in saline media. The maximum TPH biodegradation rate of 2.6 gTPH/gbiomass.d could be obtained at initial TPH concentration of 10g/L. Accordingly, the anoxic biogranulation is a possible and promising technique for high-rate biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in saline media.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: moussavi@modares.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Moussavi
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Sakine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shekoohiyan
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Kazem
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Naddafi
mesh_terms: D001407:Bacillus / Q000378:metabolism*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000378:metabolism*; D010578:Petroleum / Q000378:metabolism*; D054712:Salinity
chemical_list: D006838:Hydrocarbons; D010578:Petroleum
keywords: Anoxic conditions; Biodegradation; Biogranulation; Denitrification; Petroleum hydrocarbons