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VERIFICATION OF BIODEGRADATION OF CONTAMINANTS EXISTING IN THE SAMPLES OF RAILWAY SLEEPERS FOR THE PURPOSE OF THEIR POTENTIAL MATERIAL USING
Abstract
According to the current environmental legislation, wooden railroad ties are after the end of their service life considered as a hazardous waste. Various impregnating agents, representing mixtures of distillation fractions (creosote oils) and having a proven carcinogenic character, are used at their production. These agents serve as a wood protection against weather conditions and an attack of biological agents. After the elimination of hazardous impregnating substances, high percentage of quality wood pulp can find its application in other industrial sectors. The aim of the performed experimental procedures was to verify necessary conditions for a possibility of biological decontamination under laboratory conditions for a standardly prepared leachate ? which is a basic methodological criterion for determination of potential biodegradability of xenobiotics. At first, it was verified that there are microorganisms which are able to form a microbial polyculture surviving in a concentrated standard leachate of crushed impregnated railway sleepers. In this way selected microbial polyculture has been trained for the utilization of contaminants which are present in the leachate as residuals of an original impregnation via creosote oil. An adapted trained culture has been thus prepared to develop a special medium which is able to decontaminate the studied hazardous waste and thus decrease a degree of its danger by means of biological processes. Biodegradation ability of in this way prepared and trained polyculture has been experimentally verified via a series of tests. Moreover, a suitable indicator of a degree of chemical contamination of the cultivation medium was chosen ? reflecting in the leachates even presence of substances originating from the material of wooden railway sleeper itself.
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References9
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