Development of a Bioreactor for Cometabolic Biodegradation of Gas-Phase Trichloroethylene

Novel biofilm reactor systems, a parallel trickling biofilter (TBF) system and a two-stage continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR)/trickling biofilter system, were developed and operated for long-term continuous treatment of gas-phase trichloroethylene (TCE) by the bacterium Burkholderia cepacia G4. The effects of trichloroethylene concentrations on reactor performances were analyzed. The critical trichloroethylene elimination capacities were determined to be 8.6 and 25.3 mg trichloroethylene l−1 d−1, respectively.