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Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Collection, Isolation and Enrichment of Naturally Occurring Magnetotactic Bacteria from the Environment
Published on: November 15, 2012
Effects of environmental settings on MTBE removal for a mixed culture and its monoculture isolation
Chi-Wen Lin1, Shen-Long Tsai, Sung-Nan Hou
1Department of Environmental Engineering, Da-Yeh University, 112 Shan-Jiau Rd. Da-Tsuen, Changhua, 515, Taiwan, Republic of China. cwlin@mail.dyu.edu.tw
Abstract:
A mixed culture was utilized to evaluate methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) removal under various conditions and to isolate a MTBE-degrading pure culture. The results showed that high MTBE removal efficiencies can be reached even in the presence of other substrates. The biodegradation sequence of the target compounds by the mixed culture, in order of removal rate, was toluene, ethyl benzene, p-xylene, benzene, MTBE, ethyl ether, tert-amyl methyl ether, and ethyl tert-butyl ether. In addition, preincubation of the mixed cultures with benzene and toluene showed no negative effect on MTBE removal; on the contrary, it could even increase the degradation rate of MTBE. The kinetic behavior showed that the maximum specific growth rate and the saturation constant of the mixed culture degrading MTBE are 0.000778 h(-1) and 0.029 mg l(-1), respectively. However, a high MTBE concentration (60 mg l(-1)) was slightly inhibiting to the growth of the mixed culture. The pure culture isolated from the enrichments in the bubble-air bioreactor showed better efficiency in MTBE removal than the mixed culture; whereas, tert-butyl alcohol was formed as a metabolic intermediate during the breakdown of MTBE.
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