Serial Degradation of Perchloroethylene by Delftia sp. N6 after Dechlorination Using Fenton's Reagent

The degradation of perchloroethylene (PCE) was investigated with the serial treatment of biological reaction after dechlorination using Fenton's reagent. The dechlorination of PCE was expressed using $D_m$ (dechlorination value), calculated from ${\Delta}Cl^-mol/{\Delta}PCE$ mol, and was 2.58 with 5 mM of $H_2O_2$ and $Fe^{3+}$. The $150{\mu}M$ of PCE was transformed to $37{\mu}M$ of dichloroacetic acid (DCAA). Biological treatment with Delftia sp. N6 was applied after degradation of PCE by the Fenton reaction. The optical densities indicating cell growth were 0.53/0.10 with/without the Fenton reaction after one day, respectively. The N6 strain degraded 95% of the DCAA produced from PCE by the Fenton reaction within one day. Consequently, it seemed that the serial treatment of a Fenton reaction and biological reaction was effective in the removal of not only PCE, but also DCAA, one of the major metabolites of PCE.