Kinetics of cometabolic biodegradation of 4-chlorophenol and phenol by stenotrophomonas maltophilia KB2

The cometabolic biodegradation of 4-Chlorophenol (4-CP) by the Stenotrophomonas maltophilia KB2 strain in the presence of phenol (P) was studied. In order to determine the kinetics of biodegradation of both substrates, present alone and in cometabolic systems, a series of tests was carried out in a batch reactor changing, in a wide range, the initial concentration of both substrates. The growth of the tested strain on phenol alone was described by Haldane kinetic model (mm = 0:9 1/h, Ksg = 48:97 gg/m3, KIg = 256:12 gg/m3, Yxg = 0:5715). The rate of 4-CP transformation by resting cells of KB2 strain was also described by Haldane equation and the estimated parameters of the model were: kc = 0:229 gc=gxh, Ksc = 0:696 gc=m3, KIc = 43:82 gc=m3. Cometabolic degradation of 4-CP in the presence of phenol was investigated for a wide range of initial 4-CP and phenol concentrations (22–66 gc/m3 and 67–280 gg/m3 respectively). The experimental database was exploited to verify the two kinetic models: CIModel taking only the competitive inhibition into consideration and a more universal CNIModel considering both competitive and non-competitive inhibition. CNIModel approximated experimental data better than CIModel.