Table 5-18. Conservative biodegradation rate constants for
 PCP in multi-compound conditions.


 Sample Co KBD KBD STD ERR tl/ R2

 #402 5 6.92x10-3 1.00x10-3 100.1 0.73
 #403 5 1.08x10-2 1.76x10- 64.2 0.68
 -2 -3
 #404 5 1.20x10 2.08x10 57.8 0.65
 #408 5 1.37x10- 1.79x10 50.6 0.77
 #410 1 7.59x10-3 1.39x10-3 91.3 0.62
 -2 -3
 #411 1 1.65x10-2 1.98x10 42.0 0.79
 #412 1 7.15x103 2.16x10 96.9 0.38
 #413 1 4.52x10- 1.86x10 153.3 0.25
 #414 1 2.19x10-3 1.67x10 3 316.4 0.09
 #415 1 1.03x10- 2.19x10 67.3 0.55
 #416 1 9.05x10-3 2.04x10- 76.6 0.52

 #405+ 5 1.58x102 1.27x0-3 43.9 0.90
 #406+ 5 1.42x10 1.07x10 48.8 0.91

 #407* 5 2.86x10-2 4.24x10-3 24.2 0.79

 Discontinued at t=27 days.
 + 0.5 ml of sludge supernatant at t=529 hours.


 Within this experiment, sludge amendment was still the

most effective method for PCP degradation, followed by the

addition of phenol degrading bacteria. Surprisingly, the

samples amended with PCP degrading bacteria did not show any

superiority to other samples in terms of degradation rate.

Two explanations are possible for this apparent discrepancy.

First, there were very few bacteria surviving at the end of

the single-compound PCP degradation study, which supports

the theory that bacteria can degrade PCP but cannot depend

on it for growth. Second, the enzyme required for PCP

degradation cannot be induced by PCP itself. Both glucose

and sodium acetate added as primary substrates failed to

increase PCP degradation (in addition to the sludge amended

samples). Had sludge not been added along with glucose and