Kinetics of the depletion of trichloroethene

The kinetics of depletion of trichloroethene under different environmental conditions in aquifers was studied by incubation experiments with microcosms containing water and 3 different types of sediment. Depletion was best described by a nonlinear form of the Michaelis-Menten equation for sediments containing a significant amount of organic matter and by a linear form of the equation for crushed rock with a low organic content. Depletion of trichloroethene did not occur in sterile control microcosms, and the Michaelis-Menten constant Km was dependent on the percentage organic content of the sediments.