Estimating Biotransformation Rate Constants for Sequential Reductive Dehalogenation Reactions

Abstract

One of the main problems facing water‐quality modelers is obtaining laboratory data and determining the biokinetic parameters required to run a model simulating the biotransformation process, termed reductive dehalogenation, that transforms chlorinated hydrocarbons into intermediate compounds, then into a final compound that is not always easily biodegradable. The numerical values of these parameters are estimated by fitting the batch data to the Michaelis‐Menten equation. However, when dealing with more than one intermediate compound in a sequential bioconversion process, the standard graphical techniques are not sufficient. Therefore, it is the purpose of this study to present a general technique to obtain Michaelis‐Menten biokinetic parameters of sequential multi‐intermediate systems. A simplification of the general technique is introduced for low‐concentration compounds, and biotransformation data are simulated for carbon tetrachloride using the estimated rate coefficients.