| abstract |
A method for degrading an undesirable ether-based environmental contaminant by contacting the ether with a propane-oxidizing microorganism or with an isopropanol-oxidizing microorganism to convert the ether to innocuous compounds which are environmentally acceptable, including treating the ether-based contaminants in situ or removing them from the contaminated site for treatment in a bioreactor, examples of the ether-based contaminants being tertiary butyl ethers of the type utilized as gasoline oxygenates, for example, methyl tert-butyl ether, ethyl tent-butyl ether, and methyl tert-amyl ether, and also ether solvents, for example, tetrahydrofuran, and including also means for monitoring the degradation of methyl tert-butyl ether by evaluating the treated contaminated media for degradative intermediates, for example, tert-butyl alcohol and 2-hydroxy isobutyric acid, and further including contacting the ether with a microorganism that is effective in oxidizing 2-hydroxy-isobutyric acid. |