Biodegradation Kinetics of a Self-Inhibitory Substrate by Stable Steady-State Biofilms

In the treatment of industrial wastewaters and hazardous wastes, many organic contaminants fall into the category of self-inhibitory substrates, which are biodegradable electron donors that inhibit the rate of microbial metabolism when present at high concentrations. The utilization kinetics for self-inhibitory substrates usually are described with the Haldane modification of the Monod expression: ^{1 - 4}