Although polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have usually been found to persist under strict anaerobicconditions, in a previous study an unusual site was found in San Diego Bay in which two PAHs,naphthalene and phenanthrene, were oxidized to carbon dioxide under sulfate-reducing conditions. Furtherinvestigations with these sediments revealed that methylnaphthalene, fluorene, and fluoranthene were alsoanaerobically oxidized to carbon dioxide in these sediments, while pyrene and benzo[a]pyrene were not.Studies with naphthalene indicated that PAH oxidation was sulfate dependent. Incubating the sediments withadditional naphthalene for 1 month resulted in a significant increase in the oxidation of [14C]naphthalene. Insediments from a less heavily contaminated site in San Diego Bay where PAHs were not readily degraded,naphthalene degradation could be stimulated through inoculation with active PAH-degrading sediments fromthe more heavily contaminated site. Sediments from the less heavily contaminated site that had been adaptedfor rapid anaerobic degradation of high concentrations of benzene did not oxidize naphthalene, suggesting thatthe benzene- and naphthalene-degrading populations were different. When fuels containing complex mixturesof alkanes were added to sediments from the two sites, there was significant degradation of the alkanes.[14C]hexadecane was also anaerobically oxidized to 14CO2 in these sediments. Molybdate, a specific inhibitorof sulfate reduction, inhibited hexadecane oxidation. These results demonstrate that a wide variety of hydrocarboncontaminants can be degraded under sulfate-reducing conditions in hydrocarbon-contaminated sediments,and they suggest that it may be possible to use sulfate reduction rather than aerobic respiration as atreatment strategy for hydrocarbon-contaminated dredged sediments.
đang được dịch, vui lòng đợi..