Changes of the carbon isotopic composition of trichloroethylene during aerobic biodegradation: a new tool to estimate removal efficiencies

摘要

Trichloroethylene (TCE) was degraded aerobically with the strain Burkholderia ce-pacia G4. The degradation leveled out after ～ 40 hours, while the removal efficiency depended on the optical cell density (OD_(540)). During the experiment at an OD_(540) of 0.8, TCE was degraded up to 59.3 %, with an isotopic difference between initial and remaining substrate of 12.3 per thousand. At a lower OD_(540) of 0.5 the amount of TCE degraded was only 40.5 % and the δ~(13)C_(TCE) difference between initial and remaining substrate was 10.5 per thousand.