Fate of β-hexachlorocyclohexane in the mixed microbial cultures (MMCs) three-stage polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) production process from cheese whey

Bioresour Technol. 2015 Sep:192:304-11. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2015.05.083. Epub 2015 May 27.

Abstract

This work aimed to study the fate and effect of β-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH) during several steps of PHA production and purification, by using an artificially contaminated cheese whey (CW) as the feedstock. Most of β-HCH (around 90%) was adsorbed on CW solids and it was removed after the acidogenic fermentation step, when residual CW solids are separated along with anaerobic biomass from the liquid-phase. Purification steps also contributed strongly to the removal of residual β-HCH; overall, the PHA production process removed about 99.9% of initial β-HCH content. Moreover, it has been shown that β-HCH has neither detrimental effect on acidogenic fermentation nor on PHA accumulation, that were performed by using unacclimated mixed microbial cultures.

Keywords: Cheese whey; Decontamination efficiency; Hexachlorocyclohexane; Mixed microbial cultures; Polyhydroxyalkanoates.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acids / metabolism
  • Biomass
  • Bioreactors / microbiology*
  • Cheese / microbiology*
  • Fermentation / physiology
  • Hexachlorocyclohexane / metabolism*
  • Polyhydroxyalkanoates / metabolism*
  • Whey / metabolism*
  • Whey Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Acids
  • Polyhydroxyalkanoates
  • Whey Proteins
  • Hexachlorocyclohexane
  • beta-hexachlorocyclohexane