Chloroethene anaerobic dechlorination

Considerable effort has been devoted to the anaerobic transformation of polychlorinated Cj alkanes and C2 alkenes in view of their extensive use as industrial solvents and their identification as widely distributed groundwater contaminants. Early experiments, which showed that tetrachloroethene was transformed into chloroethene (Vogel and McCarty 1985) (Figure 7.67), aroused concern though it has now been shown that complete dechlorination can be accomplished by some organisms. 

DiStefano T. D., Gossett J. M., and Zinder S. H. (1991) Reductive dechlorination of higji concentrations of tetra-chloroethene to ethene by an anaerobic enrichment culture in the absence of methanogenesis. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 57, 2287-2292. 

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