Abstract.
The kinetics of biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by a mixed culture were determined in a creosote-contaminated soil and in a pristine soil. A competitive-inhibition model was able to represent the kinetics of degradation of PAHs from the creosote-contaminated soil, from the lag phase through to active degradation, but not data from pristine soil with the same PAHs alone and in mixtures. The presence of phenanthrene introduced a lag phase of 4.5 days in the degradation of fluoranthene and 5 days for chrysene. Rapid degradation of pyrene followed a lag phase of circa 5 days, regardless of the presence of other PAHs. These results show that even when kinetics of PAH degradation by mixed cultures appear to follow competitive-inhibition kinetics, the underlying mechanisms may be more complex.
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Lotfabad, .S., Gray, .M. Kinetics of biodegradation of mixtures of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 60, 361–366 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-002-1104-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-002-1104-7