Biodegradation of nonylphenol polyethoxylates under sulfate-reducing conditions |
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Authors: | Lu Jian Jin Qiang He Yiliang Wu Jun Zhao Juan |
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Affiliation: | School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, PR China. lijian.leonard@gmail.com |
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Abstract: | Biodegradation behavior of nonylphenol polyethoxylates (NPEOs) under sulfate-reducing conditions was investigated. The results showed that NPEOs were readily degraded under sulfate-reducing conditions. These compounds were degraded via sequential removal of ethoxyl units to nonylphenol (NP) without forming carboxylated intermediates under sulfate-reducing conditions. The biodegradation of NPEOs under sulfate-reducing conditions was not inhibited even at very high initial concentrations of NPEOs. The maximum removal rate increased about 1.3 microM d(-1) for each 10 micromol increase in initial concentration. The decrease in temperature caused a sharp decrease in the removal efficiency of NPEOs. The temperature coefficient (Phi) for the biodegradation of NPEOs under sulfate-reducing conditions was 0.008. Severe accumulation of NP and short-chain NPEOs occurred when most NPEOs were removed and this accumulation led to an increase in the estrogenic activity. The highest estrogenic activity appeared on day 21 when the total concentration of these metabolites reached its top (18.03+/-4.73 microM). NP could inhibit the biodegradation of NPEOs under sulfate-reducing conditions only at relatively high concentration. These findings are of major environmental importance in terms of the environmental behavior of NPEO contaminants in natural environment. |
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Keywords: | Biodegradation Nonylphenol polyethoxylates Environmental behavior Sulfate Estrogenic intermediate Terminal electron acceptor |
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