Kinetic analysis of the inhibitory effect of trichloroethylene (TCE) on nitrification in cometabolic degradation.

In this study, the inhibitory effect of TCE on nitrification process was investigated with an enriched nitrifier culture. TCE was found to be a competitive inhibitor of ammonia oxidation and the inhibition constant (K(I)) was determined as 666-802 microg/l. The TCE affinity for the AMO enzyme was significantly higher than ammonium. The effect of TCE on ammonium utilization was evaluated with linearized plots of Monod equation (e.g., Lineweaver-Burk, Hanes-Woolf and Eadie-Hofstee plots) and non-linear least square regression (NLSR). No significant differences were found among these data evaluation methods in terms of kinetic parameters obtained.