Abstract
Biodegradation of tetrachloroethylene (PCE) to trichloroethylene (TCE) and successively to cis-1, 2-dichloroethylene (cis-DCE) under an anaerobic condition could be well approximated by a consecutive first-order reaction model.
PCE → k1 TCE → k2 cis-DCE
The theory has a rule that the models with the same ratio of kinetic constants k2/k1 show a similar time-concentration profile even if the scales of time-axis are different. This rule enables us to estimate the ratio of kinetic constants in contaminated groundwater from the observed values of the concentrations of the above three compounds. Then we can analyze the present state of the degree of degradation and evaluate the behavior of the three compounds in future.
