Environmental influences on the partitioning and diffusion of hydrophobic organic contaminants in microbial biofilms

A biofilm reactor was used to investigate kinetic and thermodynamic aspects of the sorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) as model compounds for hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOC) to intact microbial biofilms. Effective diffusion coefficients are in the range of 10(-10) cm2 x s(-1) resulting in equilibration times of more than 3 days for a biofilm of 100 microm thickness. Diffusion in the biofilm was strongly temperature-dependent and increased by a factor of 3 (phenanthrene) to 6 (fluoranthene, pyrene) between 5 and 35 degrees C. Drying and rewetting of the biofilm as well as the inclusion of Ca2+ ions and of humic acids all strengthened the biofilm rigidity and slowed down the diffusion of PAH. The later two factors also influenced the thermodynamics of the process as they supported the partitioning of PAH into the biofilm. Humic acid inclusion from solution into the biofilm illustrates that a microbial biofilm can act as a primer allowing for the buildup of a particulate organic phase from dissolved organic matter. PAH metabolites (3-hydroxy-phenanthrene and 1-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid) showed lower partition coefficients as compared to their parent compounds and 3-hydroxy-phenanthrene also showed a higher diffusion constant, indicating that these transformation products would be easily released into the water phase upon formation during PAH biodegradation in a biofilm. These results allow the quantification of the influence of environmental conditions on a biofilm's function as a sink or as a diffusion barrier for PAH from aqueous solution, and they indicate the importance of kinetic aspects of this partitioning process.