Microbial metabolism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in creosote contaminated soils
- Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC (United States). Dept. of Environmental Sciences and Engineering
Creosote contaminated sites are of environmental significance due to the high concentrations of toxic and/or mutagenic PAH usually found at these sites. Microbial degradation of PAH can be seen as a novel form of contaminant detoxification. This paper describes the microbial degradation of PAH in creosote contaminated soils using (9-{sup 14}C) phenanthrene as a model PAH. Microbial metabolism was assessed with a mass balance approach as well as identification of PAH metabolites by GC/MS/FTIR. The mass balance accounted for the amount portion of the added phenanthrene. To confirm the effectiveness of microbial degradation to decrease soil toxicity, the Microtox{reg_sign} and Mutatox{reg_sign} assays were used to monitor toxicity of the creosote soils throughout the experiments. Mass balance results indicated that phenanthrene was readily mineralized in the contaminated soils, while metabolite production accounted for only a minor portion of the added phenanthrene. Toxicity of contaminated soils increased slightly early in the incubation and then decreased over longer time periods. Mutagenicity of soils, however, did not decrease appreciably over a 3-month time period. The identity of metabolic products found in the soils will be discussed.
- OSTI ID:
- 491060
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9406250--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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