ABSTRACT
Chlorinated hydrocarbons are volatile, possess varying solubility, and have long half-lives. These characteristics, among others, determine their fate and transport in the environment. In the anaerobic mode of degradation the organochlorine serves as electron acceptor instead of Oxygen. Reductive dechlorination generally involves the sequential replacement of a chlorine atom on a chlorinated hydrocarbon with a hydrogen atom and has been observed to occur both directly and cometabolically. Cyclic chlorinated alkane biodegradation has also been studied in bioreactors. Anaerobic biodegradation of chlorinated aromatics has been conducted using packed columns with sand or sediments. There is a widely studied variety of microorganisms capable of undertaking biodegradation processes of chlorinated hydrocarbons, having as final end products less toxic compounds, or even reaching full mineralization. Anaerobic bioreactors were only to test the potential use of this technology to remediate soil, water or air streams contaminated with organochlorines.
