Bioremediation potential of phthalate esters in sediments from subarctic and arctic sites

摘要

The effect of cold climate upon degradation of PAEs and the distribution of PAE degrading bacteria in such environments, is not well under-stood. Cold-climate sediments with different PAEs and anthropogenic loads were examined for the presence of phthalate degrading populations. Degradation with inoculum from the different sites, was conducted under aerobic and denitrifying conditions at low temperature. The results show that PAE degrading populations were present in all the sediments. Aerobic degradation was strongly retarded at low temperature, while under denitrifying conditions the degradation was less reduced.