Special Abstracts / Journal of Biotechnology 150S (2010) S1–S576 S261

[P-E.133]

Biomass accumulation and heavy metal uptake of giant reed ona polluted soil in Southern Italy

N. Fiorentino ∗, A. Impagliazzo, V. Ventorino, O. Pepe, A. Piccolo,M. Fagnano

University of Naples Federico II, ItalyKeywords: Giant Reed; Heavy Metals; Bioremediation; Tricho-derma

Giant Reed (Arundo donax L.) is well known for its adaptabil-ity to different ecological conditions, growing spontaneously indifferent regions of Southern Europe. Due to its high biomass pro-ductivity, it is commonly used for the production of energy, paperpulp, and wooden building materials (Papazoglou et al., 2005).Giant Reed could also be a useful tool for soil bioremediation thanksto its high resistance to pollutants (Papazoglou, 2006) togetherwith a high accumulation capability of heavy metals in plant tis-sues (especially in rhizomes). A field trial was established in Acerra(Southern Italy, Campania) to asses the potential productivity ofGiant Reed on a soil with high concentration of heavy metals.Treatments resulted from a factorial combination of two levels ofcompost (treated and non treated soil) and Trichoderma (inocu-lated and non inoculated rhizome). Soil samples were collected attwo depths (0-20 and 20-40 cm) at transplanting and at harvest. Soiland rhizosphere samples from plots under the different treatmentswere sampled and the composition of total aerobic bacteria, fungi,actinobacteria and microbial groups involved in key processes ofthe nitrogen cycle (e.g. aerobic free-living N2-fixing bacteria andammonia-oxidizing bacteria) was estimated and the structure ofcultivable populations was assessed.

Plant aboveground tissues and rhizomes were collected afterone growing season. A two-way ANOVA was performed on dataconsidering compost addiction as main factor and Trichodermainoculation as sub-factor in a split-plot design. Means were sepa-rated by LSD test according to a p-value of 0.05. Compost addictionallowed highest biomass production (13.2 Mg ha-1 vs 11.9 Mg ha-1

DM of non fertilized plots) and consequently highest metal uptakes.No interaction between factors was found.

These results show the possibility of use Giant Reed for energyproduction on contaminated soils allowing incomes to farmers andreducing the levels of contamination.

References

Papazoglou, E.G., Karantounias, G.A., Vemmos, S.N., Bouranis, D.L., 2005. Photosyn-thesis and growth responses of giant reed (Arundo donax L.) to the heavy metalsCd and Ni. Environ. Int. 31, 243–249.

Papazoglou, E.G., 2006. Arundo donax L. stress tolerance under irrigation with heavymetal aqueous solutions. Desalination 211, 304–313.

doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2010.09.155

[P-E.134]

Assessment of the efficacy of brown rot fungi in real textilewaste water treatment

O.M. Gomaa ∗, H. Abd El Kareem, R. Fathey

National Center for Radiation Research and Technology, EgyptKeywords: Bioremediation; Textile waste water; brown rot fungi;toxicity; toxicity tests; combined treatment

Synthetic dyes in dye effluents pose a serious problem fromthe environmental and health standpoints due to their recalcitrant

nature. Their chemical structure based primarily on substitutedaromatic and heterocyclic groups are suspected carcinogenicand/or genotoxic compounds. Fungal biomass has the ability todecolorize a wide variety of dyes successfully through a numberof mechanisms. Fungi follow different modes for decolorization,each depending on the strain used. A brown rot isolate, previouslyidentified as Aspergillus terreus, was used in the aerobic treatmentof textile waste water. The isolate has the ability to remove up to80% of the effluent color in 48 hours. The color removal process wasenergy dependent; growth related and involved hydroxyl radicals.The fungus was able to perform the decolorization process underdifferent pH values and without prior adaptation to the waste watercontent. In the current work, the treated waste water was testedfor its microbial toxicity, phytotoxicity, genotoxicity and cytotoxi-city. The obtained data suggest that the contribution of more thanone mode of treatment is essential. The use of gamma irradiation(25 KGy) after the bioremediation step led to the decrease of theby-products of biodegradation as proven by FT-IR, UV-visible spec-trum and toxicity tests. Although white rot fungi are common inmost bioremediation processes, yet the brown rot fungus could beused efficiently in the treatment of textile waste water withoutthe risk of obtaining high carcinogenic or genotoxic compounds,nevertheless, combined treatment is required.

doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2010.09.156

[P-E.135]

Biogas yield-organic load relationship model for predicting theanaerobic digestion of banana waste (musa sp.) influenced bypapain and rumen

Nelson Caballero-Arzápalo 1,∗, Carmen Ponce-Caballero 1, CinthiaC. Gamboa-Loira 1, Roland Meyer-Pittroff 2

1 Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mexico2 Technische Universitaet Muenchen, GermanyKeywords: Biogas; Anaerobic digestion; Banana waste; Papain;Rumen

The banana producers in the southeast region of Mexico experi-ence damage or decomposition of their product along the differentstages of the production process. This generates non commercialmaterial which is currently disposed incorrectly on the soil causingpollution problems which could increase the risks to the humanand environmental health. Additionally, these wastes represent aloss of organic material which could be reused as a bio-energeticsource contributing in such way to reduce the contamination. Sim-ilar problems could be found in other banana-producing countries.Several studies have been done about the biogas production basedon fruit residues. Nevertheless, only few of them correlate differentorganic substrate concentrations with the produced biogas yieldunder the influence of a bio-additive composed of papain an rumento enhance the digestion process.

Therefore, the objective of the present research work was todetermine a relationship between the produced biogas yield andthe organic load in the anaerobic digestion of the banana wasteusing micro-scale reactors under thermophilic conditions (55 ◦C)influenced of a composed bio-additive of papain and rumen. Forthat propose local banana (Musa Sp.) in concentrations of 3, 6, and9 g of volatile total solids (VTS/L) as organic loads in flask of 125 mLand commercial papain and fresh rumen were used. The laboratoryanalysis and the digestion procedure were conducted according tostandard methods.

The results establish a regression model by which it is possi-ble to predict the biogas yield from the digestion of banana waste

S262 Special Abstracts / Journal of Biotechnology 150S (2010) S1–S576

under the indicated conditions influenced by papain and rumenand knowing the organic load of the substrate.

doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2010.09.157

[P-E.136]

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography(GCxGC/MS) for monitoring heterocyclic and polycyclic aromaticcompounds in industrial soils during biodegradation

Viktoriya Vasilieva ∗, Eva Edelmann, Andreas P. Loibner, Kerstin E.Scherr

Institute of Environmental Biotechnology, Department for Agro-biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Applied LifeScience, Vienna, AustriaKeywords: Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; HeterocyclicAromatic Hydrocarbons; Biodegradation; Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) including heterocyclicaromatic compounds (HACs) are widespread pollutants in the envi-ronment. Most of these compounds are high-risk contaminants asthey have been identified as carcinogenic, mutagenic and/or ter-atogenic.

Many studies show that bioremediation is gaining widerapproval as a feasible alternative treatment technology for theremediation of soils contaminated with PAHs and HACs. How-ever, degradation rates and metabolic pathways are very specificaccording to the conditions under which microbial degradationtakes place. It’s also of concern that molecular size and structure,degree of substitution and alkylation, as well as water solubility arelimiting factors of bioavailability and therefore biodegradability ofcontaminants.

In the present study aerobic biodegradation of ten industrialsoils from different parts of Austria was investigated. Quantita-tive determination of 16 EPA-PAHs was accomplished with thestandard analytical liquid chromatography method (HPLC). Fur-thermore, structural changes of contaminant finger prints duringbiodegradation were screened by comprehensive two-dimensionalgas chromatography (GCxGC/MS).

GCxGC/MS is a new technology for analysing environmentalsamples. Implementation of this method as a qualitative techniqueto identify classes of pollutants in contaminated subsurface pro-vides an advantage concerning improved detectability and veryhigh separation capability.

Results showed that biological processes within a complexmatrix are affecting PAHs and its hetero-congeners to a highlydifferent extent. The identification of pollutants resistant andaccessible to bioremediation using comprehensive GCxGC/MS canbe employed to estimate the variety of more mobile, polar and toxicmetabolites and dead -ends in groundwater.

doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2010.09.158

[P-E.137]

Characterization of a high performance bacterial consortiumfor AMD bioremediation

M.F. Alexandrino-Fernandes ∗, M.C. Costa, A. Canário

CCMAR, Centre of Marine Sciences, PortugalKeywords: acid mine drainage; bioremediation; sulphate reducingbacteria; metals

Biological processes based on sulphate reducing bacteria areconsidered the only low cost and environmentally sustainable tech-nology for acid mine drainage (AMD) decontamination.

However, this green technology still faces several shortcomingswhen it comes to upscaling the process. One of the shortcomingspointed out is the sulphate reduction rate of the bacterial consortiaused, which leads to low bioremediation rates.

We recently isolated a very fast and highly metal tolerantconsortium from a pristine soil with geothermal activity. This con-sortium was tolerant to and grew in a combination of 750 mg/L ofiron, 170 mg/L of zinc and 80 mg/L of copper. These metal concen-trations are higher than those usually found in Portuguese AMD.

From the initial 3900 mg/L of sulphate added, 74% were reducedafter 7 days. After 28 days of incubation, 3500 mg/L sulphate wasreduced, precipitating the dissolved metals Fe, Cu and Zn as insol-uble metal sulphides. Iron was precipitated to 93% after 14 daysand by 100% after 28 days. Zinc was precipitated by 90% after 14days and by 96% after 28 days. Copper precipitation was slower(64% after 14 days) but reached 97% after 28 days. The metal toler-ance and metal removal performance of the described consortiumis higher that those described in literature (Martins et al., 2009. J.Haz. Mat. 166, 706-713). This highly tolerant consortium was ana-lyzed by cloning and sequencing assays based on the 16S rRNA geneand is composed of two genera - Clostridium sp. and Desulfovibriosp.. Studies are being undertaken to address the role each of thesegenera are playing in the bioremediation process.

doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2010.09.159

[P-E.138]

Adaptation of the herbicide-degrading strain delftia acidovo-rans mc1 through carbonylation of rdpa as key enzyme

S. Leibeling 1,∗, M. Taubert 2, J. Seifert 2, M. von Bergen 2, H.Harms 1, R.H. Müller 1

1 Department of Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre forEnvironmental Research–UFZ, Germany2 Department of Proteomics, Helmholtz Centre for EnvironmentalResearch–UFZ, GermanyKeywords: Carbonylation; Phenoxyalkanoate Herbicides; RdpA;Mass Spectrometry

A huge spectrum of compounds is released to the environ-ment by the chemical industry and the consumers. This raises thequestion how microorganisms as the said main degradative coun-terforce tackle the problem of adapting to structures that oftenexhibit a xenobiotic character. Relevant environmental pollutantsare phenoxyalkanoates like 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetate (2,4-D)and (RS)-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy-)propionate ((RS)-2,4-DP) thathave been applied as herbicides for about 70 years. The soilbacterium Delftia acidovorans MC1 is able to degrade these her-bicides. One of the key enzymes, RdpA, is highly specific forthe R-enantiomer of phenoxypropionate herbicides ((R)-2,4-DP)whereas it has very weak activity for corresponding phenoxyac-