Inhibitory effect of the xenobiotic 1,2-dichloroethane in a nitrifying biofilm reactor

The aim was to investigate the inhibitory effect of the xenobiotic 1,2-DCA on nitrification during the cometabolic degradation in a packed bed nitrifying biofilm reactor. This xenobiotic inhibited primarily the conversion of NH4-N to hydroxylamine by binding to the AMO enzyme. It had no inhibitory effect on the conversion of nitrite to nitrate. At high NH4-N loadings, the presence of 1,2-DCA inhibited NH4-N utilisation more severely than at low loadings. The suppressing effect of 1,2-DCA on NH4-N utilisation was found to be reversible due to the ability of cells to recover from inhibition. These results could fill a gap in the literature about the potential use of nitrifying biofilm systems for cometabolic treatment of 1,2-DCA and could be useful in the design of engineered 1,2-DCA remediation/treatment in biofilm reactors.