Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Division, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, Chennai, 600 036, India.
Applied biochemistry and biotechnology 2013 FebThe present study dealt with the interaction of dichloromethane (DCM) with other non-chlorinated organic solvents such as methanol, acetone, toluene, and benzene, which are commonly present in the pharmaceutical wastewater, during biodegradation by mixed bacterial consortium. Non-chlorinated solvents were easily degradable even at an initial concentration of 1,000 mg/L, whereas only 20 mg/L of DCM was degraded when used as sole carbon source. The Monod Inhibition model appears to simulate the single pollutant biodegradation kinetics satisfactorily. In dual substrate systems, low concentrations (100 mg/L) of non-chlorinated solvents did not interfere with the DCM degradation. Non-interaction sum kinetics model was able to simulate the experimental results well in this case. However, high concentrations of non-chlorinated solvents (1,000 mg/L) affected the DCM degradation significantly. There was severe competition between the chlorinated and the non-chlorinated solvents. In this case, competitive inhibition model predicted the experimental results better compared to co-metabolism model. In multiple substrate system also, presence of DCM prolonged the degradation of the other non-chlorinated solvents. However, the presence of non-chlorinated compounds accelerated the degradation of DCM. The results of the present study may be helpful in optimal design of biological systems treating mixed pollutants.
V S Priya, Ligy Philip. Biodegradation of dichloromethane along with other VOCs from pharmaceutical wastewater. Applied biochemistry and biotechnology. 2013 Feb;169(4):1197-218
PMID: 23306883
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