Microbial degradation of polychlorinated biphenyls and alkylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ...

• Main Author: Kuipers, Bianca
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2009
• Subjects: Cambridge Bay; Nunavut
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0061422; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0061422

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are widespread environmental contaminants, and their presence in the environment is a cause for concern because they are linked to a variety of toxic effects. In this thesis, some aspects of the microbial degradation of PCBs and alkyl PAHs are investigated. Analytical methods for the extraction and analysis (by using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS)) of PCBs were developed and tested. The PCB content of three sediment cores taken from lakes in Cambridge Bay (Nunavut) was analyzed, but no evidence for in-situ microbial dechlorination of PCBs was found. A variety of approaches to the development of microbial enrichment cultures were tested. The most successful were developed by using 4-bromobenzoate, as an amendment to stimulate dehalogenation activity, and sediment collected from Esquimalt Harbour (British Columbia) as an inoculum source. The dechlorination of Aroclor 1260 in soils from Resolution Island ...