Experimental Study on Aerobic Co-Metabolism Biodegradation of Xanthate

In order to improve the biodegradability of xanthate, the biodegradation process of butyl xanthate as the sole source of carbon and energy was compared to that with an external carbon source added. The experimental results showed that the degradation rate of xanthate was significantly increased in the co-metabolism process. The biodegradation rate of butyl xanthate was 65.2% after shaking culture for 72 hours under the following conditions: constant temperature of 25°C, external glucose as growth substrate with a concentration of 0.20g/L. While using butyl xanthate as the sole source of carbon and energy, its biodegradation rate was only 43.1%, and there was a 22.1% increase of the degradation rate. So the co-metabolism may be one of the effective ways to improve the biodegradability of butyl xanthate.