Cometabolic microbial degradation of trichloroethylene in the presence of toluene.
Trichloroethylene (TCE), a common groundwater pollutant, was cometabolized by microorganisms in the presence of toluene as a growth substrate. The effect of concentrations of toluene and TCE and temperature on biodegradation was discussed. Acclimated microorganisms degraded TCE after a lag period of 5 to 22 h depending on toluene concentrations. Approximately 60%, 90% and 64% of TCE were degraded at toluene to TCE concentration ratios of 23:1, 115:1 and 230:1, respectively. At a TCE concentration of 1.46 microg/ml, 80% of TCE and 98.4% of toluene were removed. But less degradation of TCE and toluene was observed when TCE concentration was above 48.8 microg/ml. The lag time of TCE decreased and the TCE biodegradation rates increased with the increase of temperature.
Sui
Hong
H
National Engineering Research Center for Distillation Technology, Tianjin 300072, China.
Li
Xin-gang
XG
Xu
Shi-min
SM
D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism*; D012997:Solvents / Q000378:metabolism*; D013696:Temperature; D014050:Toluene / Q000737:chemistry*; D014241:Trichloroethylene / Q000378:metabolism*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000378:metabolism*
D012989:Soil Pollutants; D012997:Solvents; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D014241:Trichloroethylene; D014050:Toluene