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Enhanced dimethyl phthalate biodegradation by accelerating phthalic acid di-oxygenation

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Abstract

The aerobic biodegradation of dimethyl phthalate (DMP) is initiated with two hydrolysis reactions that generate an intermediate, phthalic acid (PA), that is further biodegraded through a two-step di-oxygenation reaction. DMP biodegradation is inhibited when PA accumulates, but DMP’s biodegradation can be enhanced by adding an exogenous electron donor. We evaluated the effect of adding succinate, acetate, or formate as an exogenous electron donor. PA removal rates were increased by 15 and 30% for initial PA concentrations of 0.3 and 0.6 mM when 0.15 and 0.30 mM succinate, respectively, were added as exogenous electron donor. The same electron-equivalent additions of acetate and formate had the same acceleration impacts on PA removal. Consequently, the DMP-removal rate, even PA coexisting with DMP simultaneously, was accelerated by 37% by simultaneous addition of 0.3 mM succinate. Thus, lowering the accumulation of PA by addition of an electron increased the rate of DMP biodegradation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the ability construction project of local Colleges and Universities in Shanghai (16070503000), Special Fund of State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (16K10ESPCT), Shanghai Gaofeng & Gaoyuan Project for University Academic Program Development, and the United States National Science Foundation (0651794).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, College of Life and Environmental Science, Shanghai Normal University, Guilin Road 100, Shanghai, 200234, People’s Republic of China

    Yingxia Tang, Yongming Zhang, Ling Jiang & Chao Yang

  2. Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-5701, USA

    Bruce E. Rittmann

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  1. Yingxia Tang
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  2. Yongming Zhang
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  3. Ling Jiang
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  4. Chao Yang
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  5. Bruce E. Rittmann
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Correspondence to Yongming Zhang.

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Tang, Y., Zhang, Y., Jiang, L. et al. Enhanced dimethyl phthalate biodegradation by accelerating phthalic acid di-oxygenation. Biodegradation 28, 413–421 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-017-9805-x

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