Biodegradation of Nitrated Munition Compounds and Herbicides by Obligately Anaerobic Bacteria

  • Ronald L. Crawford
Chapter
Part of the Environmental Science Research book series (ESRH, volume 49)

Abstract

Research performed during the 1970s (15, 18) generally indicated that complete biomineralization of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and similar highly nitrated compounds did not occur. Biological reductions (R-NO2 → R-NO → R-NHOH → R-NH2) and polymerization reactions appeared to occur, but actual degradation of aromatic nuclei was not observed. However, this work involved studies of aerobic systems such as activated sludge and thermophilic composts, and pure cultures of aerobic fungi and bacteria such as pseudomonads. Pure cultures of some anaerobic bacteria such as Veillonella alcalescens (35) were examined, with similar results. Boopathy and Kulpa (2) recently isolated a Desulfovibrio that used TNT as a sole source of nitrogen, producing toluene as an end product. A Pseudomonas that produced dinitrotoluene, mononitrotoluene, and toluene from TNT, perhaps by hydride additions, was isolated by Duque et al. (10). These are still incomplete degradations of the parent molecule. Since the Desulfovibrio strain required obligately anaerobic conditions to produce toluene from TNT, and the Pseudomonas did so aerobically, the TNT transformation process may be mechanistically different in the two microorganisms. This should be a fruitful area for future research.

Keywords

Nitroaromatic Compound Nitro Aromatic Compound Clostridium Strain Volatile Organic Acid Obligately Anaerobic Bacterium 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 1995

Authors and Affiliations

  • Ronald L. Crawford
    • 1
  1. 1.Center for Hazardous Waste Remediation Research and Dept. of Microbiology, Molecular Biology, and BiochemistryUniversity of IdahoMoscowUSA

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