Modeling Biodegradation Kinetics on Benzene and Toluene and Their Mixture

Abstract

The objective of this work was to model the biodegradation kinetics of toxic compounds toluene and benzene as pure substrates and in a mixture. As a control, Monod and Andrews models were used. To predict substrates interactions, more sophisticated models of inhibition and competition, and SKIP (sum kinetics interactions parameters) model were applied. The models evaluation was performed based on the experimental data from Pseudomonas putida F1 activities published in the literature. In parameter identification procedure, the global method of particle swarm optimization (PSO) was applied. The simulation results show that the better description of the biodegradation process of pure toxic substrate can be achieved by Andrews' model. The biodegradation process of a mixture of toxic substrates is modeled the best when modified competitive inhibition and SKIP models are used. The developed software can be used as a toolbox of a kinetics model catalogue of industrial wastewater treatment for process design and optimization