%0 Journal Article
%T Aerobic biodegradation of a mixture of chlorinated organics in contaminated water
%A AO Olaniran
%A V Bhola
%A B Pillay
%J African Journal of Biotechnology
%D 2008
%I Academic Journals
%X The environmental persistence, toxicity and/or carcinogenicity of chlorinated aliphatic compounds (CAHs) and their potential for bioaccumulation in food chains has made them of serious environmental concern. The frequency of a mixture of these compounds encountered in most contaminated sites has warranted investigation into their fate in contaminated sites. In this study, therefore, the biodegradation of a mixture of CAHs; namely, carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), 1,2-dichloroethane (DCA) and dichloromethane (DCM), in contaminated water microcosms was investigated. The mixture of CAHs investigated was observed to be simultaneously degraded in both microcosms with up to 86.28% CCl4, 44.64% DCM and 52.34% DCA degradation observed in the untreated microcosms. The degradation rate constants of the CAHs ranged variously between 0.168 ¨C 1.234 week-1 for CCl4; 0.175 ¨C 0.832 week-1 for DCM; and 0.232 ¨C 0.588 week-1 for DCA in both water microcosms with higher degradation generally observed in New Germany Wastewater compared to those in Northern Wastewater. Findings from this study also suggest that biostimulation and/or bioaugmentation is required to speed up the biodegradation process, depending on the available nutrients and the presence or absence of microbial population capable of CAHs¡¯ metabolism at the contaminated sites.
%U http://www.ajol.info/index.php/ajb/article/view/58957