Aerobic biodegradation of trichloroethylene using a consortium of five bacterial strains

Degradation with an aerobic consortium was used to evaluate the bioremediation trichloroethylene (TCE) as a model substrate. After one week, 228-1186 mg TCE l(-1) was degraded at rates of 20-50 microg TCE l(-1) h(-1). The introduction of 10 mg toluene l(-1) enhanced the degradation rates for TCE when greater than 600 mg l(-1). Using isolated enzymes, a TCE degradation intermediate(s) appears inhibitory to the oxygenase enzymes thereby diminishing the overall degradation.