Acute effect of benzo[a]anthracene on the biodegradation of peptone under aerobic conditions

Background This study investigated the acute effect of benzo[ a ]anthracene, a significant compound among polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, on the biodegradation of a synthetic organic substrate—a peptone/meat extract mixture—under aerobic conditions. Methods A laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactor was sustained at steady state at a sludge age of 10 days with substrate feeding. Inhibition tests involved running a series of batch reactors initially seeded with the biomass obtained from the parent reactor. After the biomass seeding, the reactors were started with the peptone mixture and a range of initial benzo[ a ]anthracene concentrations between 0.5 and 88 mg/L. Experimental profiles of oxygen uptake rates and polyhydroxyalkanoates were evaluated by calibration of a selected model. Results Lower doses of benzo[ a ]anthracene had no effect on process kinetics. The noticeable acute impact was only observed with the addition of 88 mg/L of benzo[ a ]anthracene, but it was limited with the storage mechanism: the amount of organic substrate diverted to polyhydroxyalkanoates was significantly reduced with a corresponding decrease in the maximum storage rate, k STO , from 2.7 down to 0.6 day −1 . Similarly, the maximum growth rate from internally stored polyhydroxyalkanoates was lowered from 2.3 to 1.0 day −1 . Conclusion Among the mechanisms for direct substrate utilization, only the hydrolysis rate was slightly reduced, but otherwise, the overall COD removal efficiency was not affected.