Anaerobic degradation of phthalic acid esters during digestion of municipal solid waste under landfilling conditions

Anaerobic microorganisms in municipal solid waste samples from laboratory-scale landfill reactors and a pilot-plant biogas digestor were investigated with the aim of assessing their ability to transform four commercially used phthalic acid esters (PAEs) and phthalic acid (PA). The PAEs studied were diethyl phthalate (DEP), butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP). No biological transformation of DEHP could be detected in any of the experiments. Together with waste samples from the simulated landfilling conditions, the PAFs (except DEHP) were hydrolytically transformed to their corresponding monoesters. These accumulated as end products, and in most cases they were not further degraded. During incubation with waste from the biogas digestor, the PAEs (except DEHP) were completely degraded to methane and carbon dioxide. The influence of the landfill development phase on the transformations was investigated utilizing PA and DEP as model substances. We found that during both the intense and stable methanogenic (but not the acidogenic) phases, the microoganisms in the samples had the potential to transform PA. A shorter lag phase was observed for the PA transformation in the samples from the stable methanogenic phase as compared with earlier phases. This indicates an increased capacity to degrade PA during the aging phases of the municipal solid waste in landfills. No enhancement of the DEP transformation could be observed as conditions in the methanogenic landfill model changed over a year's time. The results indicate that microorganisms developing in a methanogenic landfill environment have a substantially lower potential to degrade PAEs compared with those developing in a biogas reactor.