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ALTERNATIVE NONLINEAR MODEL FOR ESTIMATING SECOND-ORDER RATE COEFFICIENTS FOR BIODEGRADATION
Citation:
Suflita, J., W. Smolenski, AND J. Robinson. ALTERNATIVE NONLINEAR MODEL FOR ESTIMATING SECOND-ORDER RATE COEFFICIENTS FOR BIODEGRADATION. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-87/132.
Description:
A modification of the second-order model for biodegradation was derived, applied to an example data set and shown to be superior for describing the anaerobic biodegradation of p-cresol by an enriched bacterial consortium. The modified model circumvents the no-growth assumption implicit in the use of the second-order rate equation, but still requires the assumption of first-order kinetics over the course of substrate depletion. Violation of the no-growth assumption is particularly important since overestimates of the pseudo-first-order rate coefficient lead to underestimates of the time required for the removal of a xenobiotic chemical from a contaminated environment. Calculations show that the errors introduced into the pseudo-first-order rate coefficient (and the resulting estimates of the second-order rate coefficient) approach 100% if one doubling occurs in activity over the course of substrate depletion. (Copyright (c) 1987, American Society for Microbiology.)