Bioprocessing of concentrated mixed hazardous industrial waste

The use of selected microorganisms for the degradation and/or the detoxification of hazardous organic compounds is gaining wide acceptance as an alternative waste treatment technology. This work describes the unique capabilities of an isolated strain of Pseudomonas for metabolizing methylated aromatic compounds. This strain of Pseudomonas putida Idaho is unique in that it can tolerate and grow under a layer of neat p-xylene. A bioprocess has been developed to degrade LLW and mixed wastes containing methylated aromatic compounds, i.e., pseudocumene, toluene and p-xylene. The process is now in the demonstration phase at a DOE facility and has been running for one year. Feed concentrations of 21200 ppm of the toxic organic substrate have been fed to the bioreactor. This report describes the results obtained thus far