KB-1 is an anaerobic Dehalococcoides-containing microbial culture used industrially to bioremediate sites impacted with chlorinated solvents. The culture is typically grown at pH 7. However, lower pH is often encountered and therefore the effect of pH was investigated. Both sudden and stepwise decreases in pH from 7 to 6 and 5.5 were investigated over a period of 450 days. An electron balance was also calculated to look at the flow of electrons for dechlorination. More than 95% of the reducing equivalents went towards methanogenesis and acetogenesis. Select microorganisms were compared by quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction. It was found that lower rates of dechlorination correspond to low Dehalococcoides numbers and that different methanogens were enriched on different electron donors.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/33289 |
| Date | 20 November 2012 |
| Creators | Li, Yi Xuan |
| Contributors | Edwards, Elizabeth A. |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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