The microbiological fate of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: carbon and oxygen balances for bacterial degradation of model compounds.

A series of pure bacterial strains belonging mainly to the Rhodococcus and Pseudomonas genera were grown on one of the following polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) supplied as sole carbon and energy source; naphthalene, fluorene, phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene and pyrene. In each case, a quantitative evaluation of the carbon repartition of the PAH degraded into CO2, biomass and water-soluble metabolites was carried out. In addition, the kinetics of oxygen consumption and of water-soluble metabolite accumulation during PAH biodegradation was followed with respirometric equipment. Satisfactory carbon balances were obtained and the data correlated well with oxygen consumption values. The results show that growth on PAH presents high mineralization yields (from 56% to 77% of carbon) and sizeable production of biomass (from 16% to 35% of carbon) and limited but significant accumulation of metabolites (from 5% to 23% of carbon). The mineralization yields were higher and biomass yields lower in the case of higher PAH. Some differences between strains were also observed.