Abstract
In this study, degradation of TNT under different metabolic regimes of slurry phase bioreactor for TNT-contaminated soil treatment was evaluated. The most rapid degradation of TNT was observed in aerobic treatment at the early stage of operation and its degradation efficiency was 71.5% until 60 days. After 200 days of operation, however, degradation efficiency was 93.2%. This was relatively low compared to anaerobic and anaerobic/aerobic treatments which showed degradation efficiencies of 97.0% and 95.0%, respectively. In anaerobic/aerobic treatment, the degradation of TNT was not significantly enhanced by subsequent aerobic stage compared to anaerobic treatment alone.
