Co-metabolism biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with high relative molecular mass

In order to study the co-metabolism biodegradation of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with high relative molecular mass, an influence of the addition of fluorene and phenanthrene, the PAHs with low relative molecular mass, on pyrene biodegradation was investigated and the composition of the biodegradation metabolites was determined by GC-MS. The results showed that in the biodegradation of single PAHs, fluorene was completely degraded throughout 5 d incubation to generate five metabolites, the degradation rate of phenanthrene reached 98. 93% to generate ten metainbolites after 7 d incubation and only 65.73% of pyrene was degraded throughout 9 d incubation to generate more metabolites, six of which could be qualitative. In the degradation of mixture of fluorene, phenanthrene and pyrene, they were completely removed after 3 d, 5 d and 8 d incubation, respectively, and a total of eight metabolites were produced, and only three metabolites were produced from pyrene after 8 d incubation. Therefore, fluorene and phenanthrene not only promoted the degradation of pyrene rapidly and completely, but also promoted the removal of the metabolites of pyrene, meanwhile, the presence of pyrene also contributed to the degradation of fluorene and phenanthrene and the removal of their metabolites. ©, 2015, Science Press. All right reserved.