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Abstract
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) belong to a large group of organic pollutants and are persistent in nature. Negligible bioavailability due to low aqueous phase solubility of these compounds largely limits their biodegradation. The present study investigated oil encapsulation method for delivery and enhancement of bioavailability in biodegradation of PAHs using Mycobacterium frederiksbergense. Using pyrene as the model PAH compound, different organic solvents were tested for their solubilizing ability and biocompatibility with pyrene. Solubility of pyrene in silicone oil, paraffin oil, hexadecane, and isopropyl myristate (IPM) were found to be 2.8, 25.5, 40, and 72 g/l, respectively. Besides, paraffin oil and silicone oil showed relatively high degrees of biocompatibility. However, based on both pyrene solubilizing ability and biocompatibility, paraffin oil was further selected and pyrene-containing paraffin oil was successfully encapsulated within chitosan-coated alginate-polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) microspheres with more than 99% encapsulation efficiency. Nearly complete degradation of 20 g/l pyrene by M. frederiksbergense was achieved within seven days employing the novel paraffin oil encapsulated PAH delivery system.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support for this research work from the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, vide sanction no. BT/PR-8844/BCE/08/519/2007.