With increased interest in the biodegradation of lignin, there is a pressing need to evaluate the feasibility of using microorganisms for lignin degradation. A novel Bacillus strain was separated from compost and identified as Brevibacillus thermoruber . B. thermoruber showed excellent performance in lignin degradation and degraded 81.97% of lignin after 7 d, which was similar to the lignin degradation rate of fungi. The biodegradation of lignin G and H monomers mainly proceeded via the β -ketoadipate pathway at 37 °C. At 55 °C, the degradation product of lignin S monomer was mainly a benzoic acid substance, indicating that the lignin was degraded via the benzoic acid pathway. The degradation products of lignin are important precursors for humus formation in compost. The results of this study provide new insights into the biodegradation pathway of lignin in different stages of composting.
This paper reports a novel method for identification of two aliphatic position isomers between α-ketoglutaric acid (α-KA) and β-ketoglutaric acid (β-KA) by their different perturbation effects on a Briggs–Rauscher oscillating system, in which tetraaza-macrocyclic complex [NiL](ClO4)2 is used as the catalyst. The ligand L in the complex is 5,7,7,12,14,14-hexamethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradeca-4,11-diene. The experimental results have shown that addition of α-KA into the system does not affect the oscillating patterns, while the presence of β-KA in a dynamic system influences the oscillatory amplitude. A more interesting feature is that, in the presence of a higher concentration of β-KA, there are damped oscillations after the initial spike, followed by quenching (more exactly: very small oscillations) of the oscillations before the subsequent regeneration of oscillations. A qualitative approach was thus established by employing a Briggs–Rauscher system for identification of these two isomers. The concentrations of these two isomers that can be distinguished lie over the range between 5.0 × 10–6 and 2.5 × 10–3 mol/L. A reaction mechanism based on the FCA model has been proposed. An explanation is that β-KA reacts with HOO• radicals to form acetone, whereas the α-KA does not.