BIOLOGICAL DESTRUCTION OF CCL4 .2. KINETIC MODELING

A denitrifying consortium capable of transforming carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) was cultured from an aquifer soil sample from the U.S. Departm ent of Energy's Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State. A mathe matical description of the kinetics of CCl4 destruction by this microb ial consortium is presented, and its predictions are compared to exper imental data. The model successfully predicted the concentrations of a cetate, nitrate, nitrite, biomass, and CCl4 for all 12 experiments (a total of 60 concentration-vs.-time data sets). In addition, no statist ically significant interactions exist between parameter values and ind ividual test conditions. The ability of the model to predict the resul ts of a treatability test for CCl4 degradation in Hanford groundwater, without adjusting any model parameters, is discussed. (C) 1994 John W iley & Sons, Inc.