Microbial metabolism properties affecting

Environmental organic pollutants may be degraded depending on their toxicity, solubility, distribution constant Kow because physical properties of hydrophobic chemicals may affect the solubility and therefore the amount of organic carbon available in the aqueous phase for microbial assimilation and further metabolism (Schwarzenbach and Westall 1981). Chemicals are subject to volatilization and such loss is not assessed in most of the study except for physical transformation and material balance purposes. Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are known to volatilized during incubation even with capping and more then 40% of the initial chemicals could be found lost (Yin and Gu, unpublished data). When proper control was not included and such... 

The presence of soil complicates metal removal because soils sorb metals strongly and can also affect microbial—metal complexation. Walkeretal. (1989) showed that purified preparations of cell walls from Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli (423 to 973 mmol metal/g cell wall) were more effective than either of two clays, kaolinite (0.46 to 37 mmol metal/g clay), or smectite (1 to 197 nmol metal/g clay), in the binding of seven different metals. However, in the presence of cell-wall/clay mixtures, binding was reduced. In summary, there are several parameters that affect metal complexation. These include specific surface properties of the organism, cell metabolism, metal type, and the physicochemical parameters of the environment. 

---