Institute for Sanitary Engineering, Water Quality and Solid Waste ...

However, the simultaneous degradation of mixtures of
methyl substituted or halogene substituted aromatics
is sophisticated because of incompatible induced pathways
and the production of toxic intermediates as a
result of this (so called suicide inactivation). Furthermore,
based on regulatory effects only one specific pathway
for degradation of single compounds is induced
leading to non simultaneous degradation of the other
waste air compounds.
In context of this work two bacterial strains Burkholderia
fungorum FLU 100 and Rhodococcus wratislaviensis
OCT 10 were analysed in detail. Next to a interesting
spectrum of degradable aromatic substrates,
both bacteria show novel, non described pathways.
FLU 100 is capable to mineralise toluene using a modified
ortho-pathway and OCT 10 is able to degrade the
persistent compound 2-chlorotoluene using a so called
meta-pathway. Studies of feasibility of simultaneous
degradation of toluene and 2-chlorotoluene were extended
by further aromatic compounds like fluorobenzene,
chlorobenzene, benzene and o-xylene. The
studies were operated in laboratory and half-technical
scale. The latter were realised in a biotrickling filter
system where the effect of highly fluctuating waste air
Flow chart of a biotricklingfilter system with filtration, humidification and solvent dosage as
preinstalled units for biological treatment of a ternary mixture of 2-chlorotoluene, o-xylene and
toluene by the bacterial strain Rhodococcus wratislaviensis OCT 10.
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