The biodegradation of phenol and O-chlorophenol was studied in six-liter batch reactors, using a municipal mixed liquor (from the Livingston, NJ treatment plant) that had not previously been exposed to either of the substrates. In addition, three commercial microbial preparations: BI-CHEM (Sybron), Hydrobac (Polybac), and LLMO (General Environmental Science), were tested alone and in combination with the municipal mixed liquor.
It was found that the municipal mixed liquor performed significantly better than any of the commercial preparations by themselves. When the commercial preparations were mixed with the municipal mixed liquor in a ratio of 1:10 it was found that the rate of degradation of each substrate increased over the rate of the municipal mixed liquor by itself. However, the increase in rate would not be great enough to justify the cost of using the commercial preparations
