TY - JOUR
T1 - Interactions between rhamnolipid biosurfactants and toxic chlorinated phenols enhance biodegradation of a model hydrocarbon-rich effluent
AU - Chrzanowski, Lukasz
AU - Owsianiak, Mikolaj
AU - Szulc, Alicja
AU - Marecik, Roman
AU - Piotrowska-Cyplik, Agnieszka
AU - Olejnik-Schmidt, Agnieszka K.
AU - Staniewski, Jacek
AU - Lisiecki, Piotr
AU - Ciesielczyk, Filip
AU - Jesionowski, Teofil
AU - Heipieper, Hermann J.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Surfactant-mediated treatment increases hydrocarbon solubilization and potentially facilitates biodegradation, unless toxic co-contaminants inhibiting microbial activity are present in the hydrocarbon mixture. We assessed the effect of rhamnolipids on the performance of a bacterial consortium degrading diesel fuel employed as a model hydrocarbon-rich effluent, co-contaminated with toxic phenol, 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) or 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP). This approach led to the unexpected finding that rhamnolipids reduced toxicity of 4-CP and 2,4-DCP to the hydrocarbon-degrading cells. The facts that rhamnolipids decreased diesel fuel - water partition coefficient (KFW) of 4-CP and 2,4-DCP and modified aggregate size distribution profiles of the dispersed diesel fuel - chlorinated phenols solutions, suggest the existence of specific interactions between rhamnolipids and the co-contaminants. Due to the polar nature of 4-CP and 2,4-DCP, possible explanations involve adsorption of 4-CP and 2,4-DCP on the surface of biosurfactant aggregates. This property of rhamnolipids is of interest to those using biosurfactants for microbial treatment of hydrocarbon-rich wastewaters co-contaminated with toxic compounds.© 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
AB - Surfactant-mediated treatment increases hydrocarbon solubilization and potentially facilitates biodegradation, unless toxic co-contaminants inhibiting microbial activity are present in the hydrocarbon mixture. We assessed the effect of rhamnolipids on the performance of a bacterial consortium degrading diesel fuel employed as a model hydrocarbon-rich effluent, co-contaminated with toxic phenol, 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) or 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP). This approach led to the unexpected finding that rhamnolipids reduced toxicity of 4-CP and 2,4-DCP to the hydrocarbon-degrading cells. The facts that rhamnolipids decreased diesel fuel - water partition coefficient (KFW) of 4-CP and 2,4-DCP and modified aggregate size distribution profiles of the dispersed diesel fuel - chlorinated phenols solutions, suggest the existence of specific interactions between rhamnolipids and the co-contaminants. Due to the polar nature of 4-CP and 2,4-DCP, possible explanations involve adsorption of 4-CP and 2,4-DCP on the surface of biosurfactant aggregates. This property of rhamnolipids is of interest to those using biosurfactants for microbial treatment of hydrocarbon-rich wastewaters co-contaminated with toxic compounds.© 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
KW - Wastewater
KW - 4-Chlorophenol
KW - 2,4-Dichlorophenol
KW - Diesel fuel
KW - Rhamnolipids
KW - Toxicity
U2 - 10.1016/j.ibiod.2010.10.015
DO - 10.1016/j.ibiod.2010.10.015
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0964-8305
VL - 65
SP - 605
EP - 611
JO - International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation
JF - International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation
ER -