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Pollution - Elective > Lecture 6 Whyte > Flashcards

Lecture 6 Whyte Flashcards

1
Q

Industrial activities produce many contaminants that are unfortunately harmful to the environment and _________

A

human health

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2
Q

What did the Lancet Report revealed in 2017:

A

Pollution is causing more deaths worldwide than war or smoking - 1/6 deaths are now caused by pollution!

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3
Q

What is the fate of such contaminants when they are released into the environment:

A
  • water pollution
  • groundwater pollution
  • soil/sediment pollution
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4
Q

The increase in a pollutant in tissues of organisms at successive levels of a food chain:

A

biomagnification

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5
Q

The increase in concentration of a compound within an organism compared to the level found in the environment:

A

bioaccumulation

ex: PCBs in fatty tissues

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6
Q

biodegradation is the:

A

degradation of a pollutant(s) by a living organism, usually a microorganism

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7
Q

Remediation of a contaminated site using the biodegradative capacity of biology, usually microbiology:

A

bioremediation

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8
Q

What are the 3 things to consider to find the bioremediation sweetspot:

A
  • matrix
  • contaminant
  • organism
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9
Q

For biodegradation/bioremediation to occur there are three essential interactions that need to overlap:

A
  1. contaminant must be biodegradable
  2. environmental physical/chemical parameters must allow biodegradation
  3. biodegradative microorganisms must be present and active in the contaminated environment
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10
Q

compounds alien to existing enzyme systems (foreign to life):

A

xenobiotic compounds

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11
Q
  • man-made organic compounds with uncommon structure or properties
  • not naturally occurring
  • causes pollution problems due to toxicity, carcinogenicity, recalcitrance
A

xenobiotic

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12
Q

A compound that is attacked poorly, or not at all, by microbial enzyme systems because of molecular complexity ex: oligomerization (cellulose, polystyrene, plastics):

A

recalcitrance

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13
Q

What makes a contaminant recalcitrant:

A
  • oligomerization
  • halogen substitutions (H replaced by chlorine, fluorine, bromine
  • other substitutions
  • branching / alkylation
  • molecules that are too large to fit into enzyme pockets containing catalytic sites, also large molecular organic comtaminants are more hydrophobic, less water soluble, therefore less bioavailable (ex: plastics, large molecular weight PAHs)
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14
Q

The insecticides mirex and kepone have _____________ that renders them extremely resistant to biodegradation

A

extensive chlorination

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15
Q

Which are biodegradable recalcitrant:

A
  • alkanes

- PAHs

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16
Q

PAH with 2 rings =

A

naphthalene (non-carcinogenic)

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17
Q

PAH with 3 rings =

A

anthracene (non-carcinogenic)

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18
Q

PAH with 3 rings curved =

A

phenanthrene (non-carcinogenic)

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19
Q

PAH with 4 rings =

A

pyrene (non-carcinogenic)

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20
Q

PAH with 4 rings curved =

A

benz(a)anthracene (carcinogenic)

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21
Q

PAH with 5 rings =

A

benzo(a)pyrene (carcinogenic)

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22
Q

T or F: carbon-chloride ion bond is extremely hard to break which means hard to degrade

A

T

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23
Q

T or F: if new compounds that are synthesized are similar to existing natural compounds, microbes might be able to easily switch to metabolism of the new compounds

A

T

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24
Q

T or F: biodegradation can take a long time

A

T

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25
Q

What is the difference between soil and water in terms of microbes and pollutants:

A

pollutants and microbes in soils are easily located

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26
Q

Once isolated, strains could perhaps be improved via:

A

genetic engineering

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27
Q

Can zenobiotic be degraded by microbes?

A

it depends on the compound / for some compounds we just don’t know

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28
Q

What are some parameters that need to be optimal for biodegradative bacteria to do their work?

A
  • soil moisture
  • soil type
  • aeration
  • redox potential
  • pH
  • temperature
  • nutrition status of the soil
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29
Q

T or F: surplus water limits oxygen transport in soils

A

T

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30
Q

oxygen is often ________ in soil and aqueous system. Necessary for aerobic respiration

A

limiting

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31
Q

T or F: microbial activity depends on pH

A

T

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32
Q

___________ require oxygen as an electron acceptor

A

aerobes

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33
Q

__________________ grow in either the presence or absence of O2

A

facultative anaerobes

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34
Q

_________________ oxygen is inhibitory (toxic) to growth, use other electron acceptors (nitrate, sulfate, ferric ion, carbon dioxide)

A

strict anaerobes

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35
Q

For their biodegradation/bioremediation, petroleum hydrocarbons require __________ conditions

A

aerobic

36
Q

oxygen is required as both a terminal electron acceptor and a __________in oxygenase-catalyzed biodegradative reactions

A

substrate

37
Q

T or F: oxygen is often limiting in soil and aqueous systems, oxygen concentration is often rate-limiting variable in petroleum degradation in soil and of gasoline in groundwater

A

T

38
Q

What can you do to increase the aeration?

A
  • Tilling
  • Adding bulking agents in polluted soils systems (absorb and maintain water in the stool)
  • Venting in aquifers
39
Q

BTEX, PAHs, Halogenated organic compounds (TCE, PCBs, etc) require ___________ conditions

A

anaerobic

40
Q

Biodegradation of organic contaminants under anoxic conditions occur under _____________, __________, ____________ and ____________ conditions

A

denitrifying
methanogenic
sulfate-reducing
iron-reducing

41
Q

T or F: Halogenated hydrocarbons can act as alternative electron acceptors in anaerobic conditions

A

T

42
Q

What are reductive dechlorination reactions?

A

substitution of Cl with H

43
Q

T or F: Anaerobic degradation in subsoils and aqueous systems can be enhanced by supplying the appropriate electron acceptors: ex amend the matrix with nitrate or nitrous oxide for denitrification-coupled degradation

A

T

44
Q

pH = 1/?

A

1/log(H+)

45
Q

Bacteria have their optimal pH in which range:

A

6-9

46
Q

Yeast have their optimal pH in which range

A

5-9

47
Q

Acidophiles grow at pHs as low as 1.0 (______________)

A

Thiobacillus

48
Q

the pH of soils vary between:

A

2.5-11.0

49
Q

For petroleum hydrocarbons the optimal degradation is observed at pH _____

A

7.0-8.0

50
Q

What can you do to bring the pH up:

A

add lime (calcium carbonate)

51
Q

T or F: pH can affect water solubility and sorption of contaminants to soil and sediments

A

T

52
Q

Increased acidity can result in increased solubility of ____________

A

heavy metals

53
Q

Psychrophiles grow best at temperatures between:

A

15-20C

54
Q

Psychrotrophs grow best at temperatures between:

A

30-35C

55
Q

Mesophiles grow best at termperatures between:

A

45-50C

56
Q

Thermophiles grow best at temperatures between:

A

80-110C

57
Q

What is a Q10 value:

A

a change of 10C will generally increase or decrease enzyme activity by 2-fold

58
Q

The biodegradation of compost materials occurs under: ____________ conditions

A

thermophilic

59
Q

T or F: Raising temperatures of cantaminated soils (waters) can increase the rate of degradation by increasing microbial activity and solubility of contaminants

A

T

60
Q

Temperature is hard to manipulate in the field except for ___________ and _________

A

biopiles and bioreactors

61
Q

Soil moisture content represents the amount of water present in soil and is expressed as the ratio of ____________________

A

dry weight / wet weight

62
Q

Water activity measures water actually _____________ for microbial use

A

available

63
Q

What is the water activity required for microbes:

A

above 0.96

64
Q

amount of water a soil can hold before becoming saturated:

A

water holding capacity

65
Q

Optimal soil moisture content for aerobic microbial activity is _______ WHC

A

60-80%

66
Q

Optimal soil moisture level is ________ of WHC for hydrocarbon degradation

A

30-90%

67
Q

Dry soils and low soil moisture content leads to:

A

low Aw and decreased microbial activity

68
Q

Waterlogged soils means:

A

WHC is greater than 100% = anoxic conditions

69
Q

How can you decrease the soil moisture content in the field?

A

by drying or by amending the soil with agents that can bind to free water such as gypsum, or bulking agents such as alfalfa

70
Q

In many contaminated environments, the rate-limiting inorganic nutrients are:

A

nitrogen and phosphorus

71
Q

T or F: Usually in contaminated environments, K, S, Mg, Ca, Fe are present

A

T

72
Q

What is the name of the process of treating contaminated matrices with additions of nitrogen and phosphorus:

A

biostimulation

73
Q

In the bacterial cell, C:N = and C:P =

A

20: 1
50: 1

74
Q

In soils systems the C:N is typically adjusted to 20:1-50:1 by adding nitrogen compounds such as: _________

A

NO3

NH4

75
Q

Oleophilic fertilizers =

A

oil loving, they like alkane groups

76
Q

Oleophilic fertilizers are used in ____________ systems, they are ___________ compounds containing nitrogen and phosphorus, they remain associated with oil contaminants

A

aqueous systems

hydrophobic

77
Q

In many cases, complete mineralization is achieved by a _____________ of microorganisms present in the contaminated matrix

A

consortium

78
Q

Mehtylobacter and Mehylococcus are

A

methanotrophs

79
Q

Desulfovibrio =

A

sulfate reducing bacteria

80
Q

Dehalococcoides, they remove ____________

A

chloride ions or chlorinated organics

81
Q

Complete breakdown or degradation by a microorganism of organic compounds into inorganic compounds (CO2) =

A

MINERALIZATION

82
Q

T or F: Hexadecane (C16H34) = CO2 + H2O + ENERGY (ATP) + BIOMASS

A

T

83
Q

Uranium 6 to Uranium 4 =

A

biotransformation

84
Q

Transformation by a microorganism of an organic or inorganic compound into another organic or inorganic compound, respectively

A

Biotransformation

85
Q

The gratuitous metabolic transformation of a substance by a microbe growing on another substrate. The cometabilized substrate is not incorporated into the microrganism’s biomass and the microorganism does not derive energy from the transformation of the substrate=

A

Cometabolism

86
Q

Example of cometabolism: cyclohexane is cometabolized in the presence of propane by ______________ allowing for commensal growth of pseudomonas on cyclohexane, and the transformation of cyclohexane to cyclohexanol

A

mycobacterium

Pollution - Elective (19 decks)

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