Fermentative degradation of nonionic surfactants and polyethylene glycol by enrichment cultures and by pure cultures of homoacetogenic and propionate-forming bacteria

Linear alkyl ethoxylates (polyethylene glycol alkyl ethers) were fermented completely to methane and CO2 in enrichment cultures inoculated with anoxic sewage sludge. Long-chain fatty acids were released as intermediates. No degradation was found with polypropylene glycol and polypropylene glycol-containing surfactants. Two types of primary ethoxylate-degrading bacteria were isolated and characterized. Both degraded polyethylene glycols with molecular weights of 1,000 completely. Strain KoB35 fermented polyethylene glycol, ethoxyethanol, and lactate to acetate and propionate and was assigned to the described species Pelobacter propionicus. Strain KoB58 converted polyethylene glycol and many other substrates to acetate only and was assigned to the genus Acetobacterium. The pathways of anaerobic degradation of nonionic surfactants are discussed with respect to their limitations and the various groups of bacteria involved.

[1]  Keisuke Hanaki,et al.  Mechanism of inhibition caused by long‐chain fatty acids in anaerobic digestion process , 1981 .

[2]  B. Schink,et al.  Fermentation of polyethylene glycol via acetaldehyde in Pelobacter venetianus , 1986, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology.

[3]  B. Schink,et al.  Fermentative degradation of polyethylene glycol by a strictly anaerobic, gram-negative, nonsporeforming bacterium, Pelobacter venetianus sp. nov , 1983, Applied and environmental microbiology.

[4]  Y. Tani,et al.  Bacterial Degradation of Water-insoluble Polymer : Polypropylene Glycol : Micronbial Degradation of Synthetic Polymers(II) , 1977 .

[5]  E. Samain,et al.  Influence of Calcium Addition on Growth of Highly Purified Syntrophic Cultures Degrading Long-Chain Fatty Acids , 1985, Applied and environmental microbiology.

[6]  L. Kravetz.  Biodegradation of nonionic ethoxylates , 1981 .

[7]  H. A. Barker.  Corrinoid-dependent enzymic reactions. , 1972, Annual Review of Biochemistry.

[8]  L. D. Metcalfe,et al.  Rapid Preparation of Fatty Acid Esters from Lipids for Gas Chromatographic Analysis. , 1966 .

[9]  Joel D. Cline,et al.  SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC DETERMINATION OF HYDROGEN SULFIDE IN NATURAL WATERS1 , 1969 .

[10]  F. Kawai.  Existence of ether bond-cleaving enzyme in a polyethylene glycol-utilizing symbiotic mixed culture , 1985 .

[11]  D. P. Cox.  The biodegradation of polyethylene glycols. , 1978, Advances in applied microbiology.

[12]  G A el-Hag,et al.  Evaluation of whisky distillery by-products. VI. The reduction in digestibility of malt distiller's grains by fatty acids and the interaction with calcium and other reversal agents. , 1972, Journal of the science of food and agriculture.

[13]  J. Tiedje,et al.  Metabolism of polyethylene glycol by two anaerobic bacteria, Desulfovibrio desulfuricans and a Bacteroides sp , 1986, Applied and environmental microbiology.

[14]  J. Marmur.  A procedure for the isolation of deoxyribonucleic acid from micro-organisms , 1961 .

[15]  Bernhard Schink,et al.  Anaerobic degradation of nonionic and anionic surfactants in enrichment cultures and fixed-bed reactors , 1987 .

[16]  W. Giger,et al.  Persistent organic chemicals in sewage effluents. 2. Quantitative determinations of nonylphenols and nonylphenol ethoxylates by glass capillary gas chromatography. , 1982, Environmental science & technology.

[17]  G. Gottschalk,et al.  Acetobacterium wieringae sp. nov., a new species producing acetic acid from molecular hydrogen and carbon dioxide , 1982 .

[18]  N. Pfennig.  Rhodocyclus purpureus gen. nov. and sp. nov., a Ring-Shaped, Vitamin B12-Requiring Member of the Family Rhodospirillaceae , 1978 .

[19]  Ralph S. Wolfe,et al.  Acetobacterium, a New Genus of Hydrogen-Oxidizing, Carbon Dioxide-Reducing, Anaerobic Bacteria , 1977 .

[20]  J. De Ley.  Reexamination of the Association Between Melting Point, Buoyant Density, and Chemical Base Composition of Deoxyribonucleic Acid , 1970, Journal of bacteriology.

[21]  James P. Lodge,et al.  The handbook of environmental chemistry , 1982 .

[22]  W. Giger,et al.  4-Nonylphenol in sewage sludge: accumulation of toxic metabolites from nonionic surfactants. , 1984, Science.

[23]  W. Giger,et al.  Persistent organic chemicals in sewage effluents: I. Identifications of nonylphenols and nonylphenolethoxylates by glass capillary gas chromatography / mass spectrometry , 1981 .

[24]  D. Demeyer,et al.  The effect of C18 unsaturated fatty acids of methane production in vitro by mixed rumen bacteria. , 1967, Biochimica et biophysica acta.

[25]  K. Matsushita,et al.  Identification of the Prosthetic Group and Further Characterization of a Novel Enzyme, Polyethylene Glycol Dehydrogenase , 1985 .

[26]  J. Tiedje,et al.  Degradation of ethylene glycol and polyethylene glycols by methanogenic consortia , 1983, Applied and environmental microbiology.

[27]  J. Steber,et al.  Metabolites and biodegradation pathways of fatty alcohol ethoxylates in microbial biocenoses of sewage treatment plants , 1985, Applied and environmental microbiology.