The LLNL Environmental-Microbial Biotechnology Facility. Also shown are the supporting equipment which includes a water cooler, an air compressor, and a steam generator. The facility also contains 4 incubator shakers that can be used for smaller-scale cultivation of microorganisms and for the preparation of starter cultures for the inoculation of the larger bioreactors. Also available are two water-jacketed CO 2 incubators that can be employed for the growth of anaerobes. The biomass was used to construct in situ microbial filters to bioremediate TCE-contaminated groundwater.
Arrows indicate changes in agitation speed and gassing rate as well as feedings of nutrients.
Five-liter bioreactors were used in the study. The produced biomass can be used in the bioremediation of residual BTEX compounds that remain in groundwater, following a dynamic underground stripping process that was used successfully in LLNL for a rapid, bulk cleanup of underground gasoline spills. The arrows indicate the time points at which nutrients were fed to the bioreactors. In bioreactor B, the degrading activity inducer, o-cresol, was include in each feed, while in A, it was omitted. Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains.