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FOSSIL FUEL BIODEGRADATION: LABORATORY STUDIES
Citation:
Chapman, P., M. Shelton, S. Selifonov, AND M. Grifoll. FOSSIL FUEL BIODEGRADATION: LABORATORY STUDIES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-95/434, 1995.
Description:
Natural processes of biodegradation, that return carbon from its various organic forms to the inorganic state, are increasingly screened for bioremediation applications. ariety of microbial systems capable of degrading synthetic organic chemicals, from pesticides to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), have been identified for use in processes to clean up environmental contaminants, Before application, however, any treatment process should be well characterized. deally such a characterization will demonstrate, by means of sensitive and exact analytical methods, consistent and effective removal of a target pollutant to levels less than those proscribed or regulated with conversion to innocuous or mineralized products. oxicological evaluations using relevant test species should confirm both loss of toxicity due to the pollutant and indicate the absence of toxic products not necessarily evident from mass balance chemistry. he chemical and toxicological consequences of a biotreatment process can be characterized in the laboratory with evaluation of appropriate methods and systems to be used. ew biological treatment systems have been so rigorously characterized before field application.