Kinetics of inhibition in the biodegradation of monoaromatic hydrocarbons in presence of heavy metals

The toxicity and inhibitory effects of heavy metals such as cadmium, nickel and zinc on alkylbenzene removal were evaluated with a Bacillus strain. The kinetics of alkylbenzene biodegradation with the different heavy metals at various concentrations were modeled using the Andrews equation which yielded a good fit between model and experimental data. Additional experiments undertaken with a Pseudomonas sp. in presence of nickel confirmed a good fit between experimental data and the Andrews model for this strain as well. The heavy metals inhibition constants (K-i) were calculated for different combinations of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and heavy metals. The present approach provides a method for evaluating and quantifying the inhibition effect of heavy metals on the biodegradation of pollutants by specific microbial strains. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.