Year: 1990
Type: report
Abstract: Depolymerization of lignite is being investigated. Research objectives include: isolate and characterize microbial strains that carry out chemical transformations of lignite coal that would cause its depolymerization, reduction, and/or liquefaction; characterize desirable reactions by growing selected of the microbial isolates on coal model compounds, and determine if the reactions occur when the microbial strains are growing on coal; and characterize several newly isolated coal-depolymerizing bacteria to determine their mechanisms of coal depolymerization, and utilize the depolymerized coal as a substrate for the isolation of additional strictly anaerobic bacteria that reductively transform the depolymerized coal. Since the last report we have made a significant breakthrough in our characterizations of the coal depolymerization mechanism. Not only have we characterized several additional bacterial strains that are superior to P. cepacia DLC-07 in their coal depolymerization abilities, but we have confirmed that depolymerization is catalyzed by a highly active extracellular enzymatic activity in several Pseudomonas and Flavobacterium strains. Our breakthrough discovery of a coal-depolymerizing enzyme system opens the way for elucidating the mechanism by which bacteria attack the macromolecular structure of lignite coals. 8 figs., 1 tab.
DOI: 10.2172/7271283
Author: D. Crawford
Language: English
Subfield: Ocean Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4250567803