Scientific community continues the research initiated by Litoclean

STOTEN journal publishes new paper on a bacterium capable of decontaminating chloroform-affected groundwater

The work carried out by Dra. Natàlia Blázquez Pallí, research technician of Litoclean’s R+D+i department, in her doctoral thesis on Evaluation of the viability of bioremediation strategies in aquifers contaminated with chlorinated solvents is having continuity in the scientific community with an article published in the journal Science of the Total Environment (STOTEN) and titled “Trichloromethane dechlorination by a novel Dehalobacter sp. strain 8M reveals a third contrasting C and Cl isotope fractionation pattern within this genus.” . La publicación se enmarca dentro de la tesis doctoral de J. Soder-Walz desarrollada dentro del grupo BioremUAB liderado por el Dr. Ernest Marco Urrea, y ha resultado de la colaboración con el grupo MAiMA, el Instituto de Microbiología de la Academia Checa de Ciencias y la Universidad de Viena, entre otros.

The paper highlights the identification of a new strain of Dehalobacter, a bacterium capable of metabolizing the compound trichloromethane (also known as chloroform), which may be very useful for bioremediation treatments aimed at decontaminating groundwater affected by this substance. Additionally, the degradation reaction promoted by this new strain (tentatively named Dehalobacter sp. strain 8M) shows an isotopic fractionation pattern significantly different from those described to date, which would allow us to identify and confirm the occurrence of this reaction in situ by isotopic analysis.

The bacterium Dehalobacter sp. strain 8M originally comes from one of the sites where LITOCLEAN works and which was the subject of research in the past, during Dr. Blázquez Pallí’s thesis, in a project led by LITOCLEAN with the collaboration of the BioremUAB research group of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Blázquez Pallí, in a project led by LITOCLEAN with the collaboration of the BioremUAB research group of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the MAiMA group of the Universitat de Barcelona. The results of that study, in which the feasibility of the bioremediation technique for the remediation of the groundwater of the site was evaluated and the presence of the bacterium Dehalobacter sp. was confirmed, were also published in the journal STOTEN under the title “Use of dual element isotope analysis and microcosm studies to determine the origin and potential anaerobic biodegradation of dichloromethane in two multi-contaminated aquifers“.

Litoclean has a strongcommitment to research and innovation, which is why it is committed to its R&D&I department and to carrying out this type of tests and studies that are very relevant and necessary to broaden knowledge about the degradation pathways of these compounds frequently detected in groundwater and allow the generation of the necessary technology for their elimination.