Method for dechlorinating polychlorinated biphenyls and granules for use in method
OwnerLakshmi Bhatnagar, Wei-Min Wu +3inventors
InventorsLakshmi Bhatnagar, Wei-Min Wu, Murugiah R. Natarajan, Henry Y. Wang, Mahendra K. Jain
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a biological method for dechlorinating polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) by inoculating a polychlorinated biphenyl containing sample with PCB dechlorinating anaerobic methanogenic granules. The granules are made by coculturing particles of a PCP-dechlorinating methanogenic microbial consortia and a PCB-dechlorinating microorganism under anaerobic conditions in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (USAB) reactor.
Claims5
A method of making anaerobic methanogenic PCB-dechlorinating microbial granules having all the identifying characteristics of ATCC No. 55616, said method comprising disrupting granules of methanogenic microbial consortium having the ability to dechlorinate pentachlorophenol (PCP) to form particles of about 0.1 mm or less in size and coculturing said granules with bacteria capable of dechlorinating polychlorinated biphenyls in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor on a nutrient medium until the desired granules form.
A method for dechlorinating a polychlorinated biphenyl which comprises adding anaerobic methanogenic dechlorinating microbial granules having all the identifying characteristics of ATCC No. 55616 to a medium containing a polychlorinated biphenyl and culturing said granules in said medium under anaerobic conditions at a temperature of about 4.degree. C. to about 35.degree. C. to dechlorinate the polychlorinated biphenyl.
Anaerobic methanogenic dechlorinating microbial granules which dechlorinate polychlorinated biphenyls, said granules having all the identifying characteristics of ATCC No. 55616.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.