Microbial degradation equilibrium models

A series of related experiments investigated nonionic surfactant sorption onto soil, mechanisms of nonionic surfactant solubilization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds from soil, and microbial mineralization of phenanthrene in soil-aqueous systems with nonionic surfactants. Surfactant solubilization of PAH from soil at equilibrium can be characterized with a physicochemical model by using parameters obtained from independent tests in aqueous and soil-aqueous systems. The microbial degradation of phenanthrene in soil-aqueous systems is inhibited by addition of alkyl ethoxylate, alkylphenyl ethoxylate, or sorbitan- (Tween-) type nonionic surfactants at doses that result in micellar solubilization of phenanthrene from soil. Available data suggest that the inhibitory effect on phenanthrene biodegradation is reversible and not a specific, toxic effect. 

Level II Model The added refinement involves accounting for losses from compartments either by advection or reaction. A steady state is achieved where input is balanced by the loss from the system, but the compartments remain at equilibrium as indicated by the fluid height in the tank analogy (Fig. 10.9). Quantities defining the loss of 1,2,3-trichlorobenzene from the system by advection and reaction are compiled in Table 10.8. Photochemical reactions would be the most likely processes involved in air and water, while microbial degradation would be active in soil and bottom sediments, and the use of first-order rate constants (h ) is an appropriate approximation. 

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