Abstract
The effect of biomass density, effect of different ratios of trichloroethylene (TCE) and toluene on biomass, and strategies to cope with problems using acclimated Burkholderia cepacia G4 were investigated. Complete degradation of TCE was achieved when B. cepacia G4 was exposed to 0.5mg/L TCE and 10mg/L toluene after starvation of 100 h. Overall results of this study show that degradation rates of toluene decreased as TCE concentration increased. On the contrary, degradation rates of TCE increased up to 10mg/L TCE and then decreased. Transformation capacity of B. cepacia G4 increased as toluene concentration increased but transformation yield decreased showing that excessive substrate supply may not help to improve specific performance parameters. Results of these experiments bear that instead of simultaneous injection of TCE and substrate, the supply of substrate in pulses can increase the efficiency of B. cepacia G4 or similar bacterial strains.