Stimulation of Organic Contaminant Degradation in Anaerobic Environments
Project Leader: John D. Coates
Unit: College of Science, Dept. of Microbiology
Brief Description:
The invention is based upon the unique metabolism of a novel group of microorganisms identified by the research team. These organisms are ubiquitous and thrive in a broad diversity of anaerobic environments both pristine and contaminated. Under anaerobic conditions these organisms can be stimulated to produce high quantities of oxygen which is bioavailable for contaminant-degrading aerobic and facultative anaerobic bacteria in the environment. Under these conditions we stimulated the rate of benzene and naphthalene oxidation in anoxic, contaminated sediments 20- to 60-fold over indigenous degradative processes.
Patent Status:
Patent pending. U.S. patent application no. 20040014196.
Potential Commercial Uses:
This bioremediation technology can be applied to many different types of contaminated environments, including soils, sediments, and aquifers. The rate-limiting step in present bioremediative processes is the recalcitrance of most hydrocarbons and PCBs in the absence of oxygen, although many of these compounds can be readily degraded when oxygen is present. However, the cost of physically adding oxygen to anoxic environments is both cost-prohibitive and labor-intensive. This technology allows for cheap, reliable, in-situ oxygen production. The oxygen is microbially produced and is bioavailable to the contaminant-degrading microbial population in contaminated environments. This method has been successfully applied to hydrocarbon-contaminated coal tar pit sediments in which the degradation of the hydrocarbons was greatly stimulated over the untreated controls.
Contact:
Jeff Myers, Senior Technology Transfer Specialist, (618) 453-4543, fax: (618) 453-8038