DEVELOPMENT OF PREDICTIVE STRUCTURE-BIODEGRADATION RELATIONSHIP MODELS WITH THE USE OF RESPIROMETRICALLY GENERATED BIOKINETIC DATA

Biodegradation is an important mechanism determining the fate of chemicals in the aquatic environment. In this paper, experimental data, determined from electrolytic respirometry, for 27 compounds were analyzed using first order and Monod kinetics. Additional data from the literature were also used in our analysis. A method based on group contribution to predict first-order and Monod kinetic rate constants was developed and validated. The group contribution approach gave reasonable results for a variety of compounds. More kinetic data are required to extend the group contribution approach.