Biodegradation

, 20:621 | Cite as

Aerobic biodegradation of the brominated flame retardants, dibromoneopentyl glycol and tribromoneopentyl alcohol

  • Osnat Segev
  • Wolfram Meusel
  • Melanie Friedenberger
  • Asher Brenner
  • Ariel Kushmaro
Original Paper
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Halogenated organic compounds constitute one of the largest and most diverse groups of chemicals in the environment. Many of these compounds are toxic, persistent and, as a result of their often limited biodegradability, tend to bioaccumulate in the environment. Dibromoneopentyl glycol (DBNPG) and tribromoneopentyl alcohol (TBNPA) are brominated flame retardants commonly used as additives during the manufacture of plastic polymers and as chemical intermediates in the synthesis of other flame retardants. Both are classified as not readily biodegradable. In this paper, we demonstrate the biodegradation of both DBNPG and TBNPA by a common bacterial consortium under aerobic conditions in enrichment cultures containing yeast extract. DBNPG and TBNPA biodegradation is accompanied by a release of bromide into the medium, due to a biological debromination reaction. Molecular analysis of the clone library PCR amplified 16S rRNA gene was used to characterize the bacterial consortium involved in the biodegradation.

Keywords

Biodegradation Brominated flame retardants Debromination Dibromoneopentyl glycol Halogenated organic compounds Tribromoneopentyl alcohol 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The work was supported by a grant from BMBF-MOST Cooperation in Water Technologies (Grant WT-501) and a grant from the Ramat Hovav Council, Israel. We thank the Rieger Foundation and the Israel Commercial Industrial club for O. Segev’s generous fellowship.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  • Osnat Segev
    • 1
  • Wolfram Meusel
    • 2
  • Melanie Friedenberger
    • 2
  • Asher Brenner
    • 1
  • Ariel Kushmaro
    • 3
  1. 1.Unit of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering SciencesBen-Gurion University of the NegevBe’er-ShevaIsrael
  2. 2.Department of Applied Biosciences and EngineeringAnhalt University of Applied ScienceKöthenGermany
  3. 3.Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Faculty of Engineering SciencesBen-Gurion University of the NegevBe’er-ShevaIsrael

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