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Biodegradation of
biodiesel/diesel blends by Candida viswanathii
José Soares
Junior, Adriano Pinto Mariano* and Dejanira de Franceschi de
Angelis
Department
of Biochemistry and Microbiology - Institute of Biosciences
Sao Paulo State University, UNESP,
P. O. Box 199, 13506-900, Rio Claro-SP, Brazil.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
adrianomariano@yahoo.com.br.
Accepted 13
April, 2009 |
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This work is aimed to assess the aerobic biodegradation of
biodiesel/diesel blends (0, 2, 5, 20 and 100%, v/v) by
Candida viswanathii. The biodegradation potential of the
inoculum was assessed with the redox indicator
2,6-dichlorophenol indophenol (DCPIP) test and with
respirometric experiment in biometer flasks (250 mL) used to
measure the microbial CO2 production. In the
latter, the inoculum was added to a contaminated soil with
the blends (addition of 50 mL of fuel/Kg of soil from a
non-contaminated site). C. viswanathii was able to
increase significantly (approximately 50% in terms of CO2
production) the biodegradation in soil of biodiesel/diesel
blends and neat biodiesel since it preferable biodegrades
biodiesel. Without inoculum the biodegradation of diesel oil
was higher than biodiesel and blends (47.3, 51.1, 5.7 and
22.1% in terms of CO2 production by B2, B5, B20
and B100, respectively) presumably due to the presence of
the antioxidant terc-butyl-hydroquinone (TBHQ) in the
biodiesel.
Key
words:
Diesel, biodiesel, blends, biodegradation, bioaugmentation,
TBHQ. |
