DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED CHEMISTRY AND
MATERIAL SCIENCE,
ENGINEERING FACULTY, UNIVERSITY OF
BOLOGNA
Viale
Risorgimento, 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Project Co-Director: Prof. Fabio Fava (NPD)
Telefon/Fax: (39 051) 2093212/ (39 051) 2093218
E-mail: fabio.fava@mail.ing.unibo.it
The
Faculty of Engineering of the Bologna University (Appendix 1.5)
was funded in 1936.Attended by more than 12 000 students, it groups 11
different Master Degree programs and 9 Undergraduate degree programs. The
Department of Applied Chemistry and Material Sciences belongs to this Faculty,
and it counts about 40 people, 25 of which are Researchers, Lecturers and
Professors. The research activity of the Department is focused on 3 different
fields: Polymer Chemistry, Materials Science and Technologies and Environmental
Biotechnology.
The knowledge existing in the Prof. Fava’s group,
BU team (the only one of the Department involved in environmental biotechnology
researches), can be summarized as follows:
·
Study of
biodegradation processes of PCBs, PAHs, chlorobenzoic acids and chlorophenols
in aerobic conditions, and of PCBs in anaerobic conditions. In particular, this
research activity included: I) isolation and taxonomic characterization of the
bacteria involved in the biodegradation process, II) characterization of the
biodegradative pathways through which each xenobiotic is degraded by chemical,
biochemical and genetic tools and III) determination of the main kinetics
parameters describing the biodegradation process of the xenobiotics.
·
Optimization of the
PCB and chlorobenzoic acid aerobic biodegradation in synthetic wastewaters by:
I) stimulating the microorganism growth and metabolic activity by addition of
growth cofactors II) enhancing the xenobiotic bioavailability through addition
of surfactants, cyclodextrins, or physical agents.
·
Development of
aerobic lab-scale bioreactors (mainly packed-bed bioreactors with passively
immobilized cells) for the batch and the continuous treatment of PCBs- and
chlorobenzoic acid-contaminated waste-waters
and for the biological treatment of olive oil mill wastewater.
·
Development of
aerobic lab-scale bioreactors for the slurry-phase, the semisolid-phase and the
fixed-phase
"ex-situ" treatment of actual site PCB- and
PAH-contaminated soils. Attempts to improve the PCB contaminated soil
bioremediation by adding exogenous specialized biomass as well as
PCB-solubilizing agents, such as cyclodextrins, synthetic and biogenic
surfactants, and humic acid fractions, into the soil.
·
Fava F., Grassi F. (1996) Cyclodextrins enhance theaerobic
degradation and dechlorination of low-chlorinated biphenyls Biotechnology
Techniques, 10: 291-296.
·
Fava F., Baldoni F., Marchetti L., Quattroni G. (1996) A bioreactor system for the mineralization of
low-chlorinated biphenyls Process Biochemistry 31: 659-667.
·
Fava F., Di Gioia D., Marchetti L., Quattroni G. (1996) Aerobic
dechlorination of low-chlorinated biphenyls by bacterial biofilms in packed-bed
bioreactors Applied
Microbiology and Biotechnology 45: 562-568.
·
Fava F., Di Gioia D., Marchetti L. (1996) Dichlorobiphenyl
degradation by an uncharacterized Pseudomonas species,strain
CPE1, in a fixed film bioreactor. International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation. 37: 53-59.
·
Pinelli D, Fava F., Nocentini M., Pasquali G. (1997).Bioremediation
of a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-contaminated soil by using different
aerobic batch bioreactor systems Journal of Soil Contamination 6: 243-256.
·
Fava F., Di Gioia D., Marchetti L. (1998) Cyclodextrins effects
on the ex-situ bioremediation of a chronically polychlorobiphenyl-contaminated
soil Biotechnology & Bioengineering58: 345-355.
·
Di Gioia D., Peel M., Fava F., Wyndham C. (1998) Structure of
homologous composite transposons carrying cba ABC genes from Europe and North
America .Applied Environmental Microbiology, 64: 1940-1946.
·
Fava F., Di Gioia D. (1998) Effects of Triton X-100 and
Quillaya Saponin on the ex-situ bioremediation of a chronically
polychlorobiphenyl-contaminated soil Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology,
50: 623-630.
·
Fava F., Bertin L. (1999) Influence of the exogenous carbon
source on the ex-situ bioremediation of a chronically PCB-contaminated soil
Biotechnology and Bioengineering 64:240-249
·
Fava F., Di Gioia D., Marchetti L. (2000) Role of
the reactor configuration in the biological detoxification of a dump
site-polychlorobiphenyl-contaminated soil in lab slurry phase conditions.
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 53: 243-248
·
Nocentini M., Pinelli D., Fava F. (2000)
Bioremediation of a soil contaminated by hydrocarbon mixtures: the residual concentration
problem. Chemosphere 41:
1115-1123
·
Fava F., Di Gioia D. (2001) Soya lecithin effects
on the aerobic biodegradation of polychlorinated biphenyls in an
artificially-contaminated soil. Biotechnology & Bioengineering 72:177-184
·
Villarante, N.R., Armenante P.M., Quibuyen,
T.A.O., Fava F., Kafkewitz D. (2001) Dehalogenation of
dichloroethene in a contaminated soil: fatty acids and alcohols as electron
donors and an apparent requirement for tetrachloroethene. Applied
Microbiology and Biotechnology, 55: 239-247
·
Di Gioia D., Bertin L., Fava F., Marchetti L. (2001) Biodegradation
of hydroxylated and methoxylated benzoic, phenylacetic and phenylpropenoic
acids present in olive mill wastewaters by two bacterial strains. Research in Microbiology 152:83-93
·
Di Gioia D., Fava F., Bertin L., Marchetti L. (2001) Biodegradation
of synthetic and natural occurring mixtures of mono-cyclic aromatic compounds
present in olive mill wastewaters by two aerobic bacteria. Applied
Microbiology and Biotechnology 55: 619-626.
·
Bertin L., Majone M., Di Gioia D., Fava F. (2001)
An aerobic fixed-phase biofilm reactor system for the degradation of the
low-molecular weight aromatic compounds occurring in the effluents of anaerobic
digestors treating olive mill wastewaters. Journal of Biotechnology 87:161-177.
·
Fedi S., Carnevali M., Fava F., Andracchio A., Zappoli
S., Zannoni D. (2001) Biodegradative activities and hybridization analysis of
fifteen aerobic bacterial strains isolated from a chronically polychlorinated
biphenyl (PCB) contaminated site. Research in Microbiology 152:583-592
·
Fava F., Piccolo A. (2002) Effects of humic substances on the bioavailability
and aerobic biodegradation of polychlorinated biphenyls in a model soil. Biotechnology & Bioengineering 77:
204-211
·
Fava F., Ciccotosto F.V. (2002) Effects of Randomly
Methylated-b-Cyclodextrins (RAMEB) on the bioavailability and aerobic
biodegradation of polychlorinated biphenyls in three pristine soils spiked with
a transformer oil. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 58: 393-399
·
Demnerova,
K., Fava F., Mackova M., Pazlarova J., Vosahlikova M., Novakova H., Jindrova
E., Ryslava E., Macek T., Vrchotova N., Brenner V., Pavlu L., Totevova S.,
Kristoffer T., Focht D.D., Di Gioia D., Marchetti L, Fletcher J.S., Leigh M.B.,
Kucerova P., Stiborova H., Mateju V., Sobotka M., Kastanek F., Kastanek P.,
Kasak L. PCB-Approaches to possible
removal from the environment. (Book Chapter) In press in: "Innovative
Approaches to the On-Site Assessment and Remediation of Contaminated
Sites". NATO Advanced Study Institute book
·
Di Gioia D., Barberio C, Spagnesi S., Marchetti L.,
Fava F. (2002) Characterisation of four olive-mill wastewater indigenous
bacteria capable of aerobically degrading hydroxylated- and
methoxylated-monocyclic aromatic compounds. Archives of Microbiology 178:
208-217
·
Zanaroli G., Fedi S, Carnevali
M, Fava F, Zannoni D. (2002) Use
of potassium tellurite for testing survival and viability of Pseudomonas
pseudoalcaligenes KF707 in soil microcosms contaminated with
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Research in Microbiology 153:353-360.