Abstract
An environmentally benign method for the mineralization of sulfur mustard has been proposed involving chemical hydrolysis of sulfur mustard to thiodiglycol, and then the biological degradation of thiodiglycol to generate biomass and gaseous carbon dioxide.Alcaligenes xylosoxidans (SH91) was isolated based on its ability to utilize thiodiglycol as a sole carbon source. This article compares different biological reactor designs and experimentally assesses their relative effectiveness in degrading thiodiglycol using pure cultures of SH91. The reactor configurations studied are batch, continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR), and CSTR with cell recycle. From the results, it is clear that the CSTR with cell recycle offers superior performance for a given residence time or volume. These pure culture data are necessary for accurate design of a pilot-scale system where mixed cultures will be employed because of a possible incomplete chemical hydrolysis step.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bentley, W. E., Bunnett, J. F., DeFrank, J. J., von Fahnestock, M., Haley, M. V., Harvey, S. P., Issacson, L., Kilbane, J. J., Kolakowski, J. E., Labare, M. P., Ontiveros, J.-L., and Wild, J. R. (1994),Proceedings of the 1993 Scientific Conference on Chemical Defense Research, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, pp. 1133–1138.
Harvey, S. and DeFrank, J. J. (1993), inArmy Science: The New Frontiers, Military and Civilian Applications, Kamely, D. and Sasmor, R., eds., Borg Biomedical Services, Richmond, VA, pp. 141–151.
Lee, T., Weigand, W. A., Bentley, W. E., and Harvey, S. P. (1996), Bioreactor strategies for the degradation of thiodiglycol, the main hydrolysis product of sulfur mustard. (submitted).
Sines, B. J., Teather, E. W., Harvey, S. P., and Weigand, W. A. (1994),Appl. Biochem. Biotech. 45/46, 881–895.
Lee, T. (1994), UsingAlcaligenes xylosoxidans (SH91) to degrade thiodiglycol. MS Thesis, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.
Yano, T. and Koga, S. (1969),Biotechnol. Bioeng. 11, 139–153.
Bailey, J. E. and Ollis, D. F. (1977),Biochemical Engineering Fundamentals, MacGraw-Hill, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pham, MQ.K., Harvey, S.P., Weigand, W.A. et al. Reactor comparisons for the biodegradation of thiodiglycol, a product of mustard gas hydrolysis. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 57, 779–789 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02941758
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02941758