Aerobic Growth of BCP1 Using Selected Naphthenic Acids as the Sole Carbon and Energy Sources.

Naphthenic acids (NAs) are an important group of toxic organic compounds naturally occurring in hydrocarbon deposits. This work shows that BCP1 cells not only utilize a mixture of eight different NAs (8XNAs) for growth but they are also capable of marked degradation of two model NAs, cyclohexanecarboxylic acid (CHCA) and cyclopentanecarboxylic acid (CPCA) when supplied at concentrations from 50 to 500 mgL. The growth curves of BCP1 on 8XNAs, CHCA, and CPCA showed an initial lag phase not present in growth on glucose, which presumably was related to the toxic effects of NAs on the cell membrane permeability.

Screening selectively harnessed environmental microbial communities for biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in moving bed biofilm reactors.

Bacteria are often found tolerating polluted environments. Such bacteria may be exploited to bioremediate contaminants in controlled ex situ reactor systems. One potential strategic goal of such systems is to harness microbes directly from the environment such that they exhibit the capacity to markedly degrade organic pollutants of interest.

Removal and biodegradation of naphthenic acids by biochar and attached environmental biofilms in the presence of co-contaminating metals.

This study evaluated the efficacy of using a combined biofilm-biochar approach to remove organic (naphthenic acids (NAs)) and inorganic (metals) contaminants from process water (OSPW) generated by Canada's oil sands mining operations. A microbial community sourced from an OSPW sample was cultured as biofilms on several carbonaceous materials. Two biochar samples, from softwood bark (SB) and Aspen wood (N3), facilitated the most microbial growth (measured by protein assays) and were used for NA removal studies performed with and without biofilms, and in the presence and absence of contaminating metals.

Evaluating the Metal Tolerance Capacity of Microbial Communities Isolated from Alberta Oil Sands Process Water.

Anthropogenic activities have resulted in the intensified use of water resources. For example, open pit bitumen extraction by Canada's oil sands operations uses an estimated volume of three barrels of water for every barrel of oil produced. The waste tailings-oil sands process water (OSPW)-are stored in holding ponds, and present an environmental concern as they are comprised of residual hydrocarbons and metals.

Culturing oil sands microbes as mixed species communities enhances ex situ model naphthenic acid degradation.

Oil sands surface mining for bitumen results in the formation of oil sands process water (OSPW), containing acutely toxic naphthenic acids (NAs). Potential exists for OSPW toxicity to be mitigated by aerobic degradation of the NAs by microorganisms indigenous to the oil sands tailings ponds, the success of which is dependent on the methods used to exploit the metabolisms of the environmental microbial community. Having hypothesized that the xenobiotic tolerant biofilm mode-of-life may represent a feasible way to harness environmental microbes for ex situ treatment of OSPW NAs, we aerobically grew OSPW microbes as single and mixed species biofilm and planktonic cultures under various conditions for the purpose of assaying their ability to tolerate and degrade NAs.

Harnessing oil sands microbial communities for use in ex situ naphthenic acid bioremediation.

The caustic hot water extraction process used to release bitumen from the Alberta oil sands generates large volumes of tailings waste, or oil sands process water (OSPW). OSPW contains several components of environmental concern including diluents, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and naphthenic acids (NAs); the latter are of particular concern as they are acutely toxic to aquatic organisms and mammals. Studies have demonstrated that the naturally occurring OSPW bacteria are capable of metabolizing the NAs.