Biodegradability test results related to quality and quantity of the inoculum

Structure of Microbial Communities in Activated Sludge: Potential Implications for Assessing the Biodegradability of Chemicals

“…For these reasons it is reasonable to propose that some type of standardized protocol be used to prepare the inocula for biodegradation tests so that the test results would be reproducible and data from various laboratories could readily be compared (Blok and Booy, 1984;Struijs et al, 1995). The MITI Biodegradation Test Guidelines (OECD, 1993) as well as several other published protocols (Tabka et al, 1993) attempt to achieve this aim.…”

Probability of Biodegradation, a Novel Concept for Improving Chemical Classification and Risk Assessment

“…These results can be compared to direct estimates based on analysis of the exponential part of the observed rate of mineralization (Blok and Struijs, 1996). Blok and Booy (1984) present examples of delayed adaptation times for diethyleneglycol and anthraquinone. A difference of dilution by a factor 10 3 to 10 4 for the same inoculum of activated sludge caused a delay of 14 days for ethylene glycol.…”

“…(1) the Note. 1, 1 laboratory, 29 substances Fisher, 1979, 1981); 2, 24-69 laboratories, 6 substances in OECD ring test 1979-1980(Blok and Booy, 1984; 3, 15-41 laboratories, diethyleneglycol in OECD ring test 1978-1979(Blok and Booy, 19844, 15-40 laboratories, 4-nitrophenol in OECD ring test 1978-1979(Block and Booy, 1984; 5, one laboratory, 31 substances (Kitano and Takatsuki, 1988;Painter, 1992). adaptation time follows from ðT adapt Þ plant ¼ fln ð1:39 Â 10 8 Þ=ð0:2 Â 10 6 Þg=" n and gives 4, 12, or 48 days, respectively, for the different maximum growth rates assumed.…”

Aerobic mineralization of paperboard materials used in packaging applications

“…For instance, the milligrams of substrate carbon removed per milligram of dry inoculum solids per hour, has been proposed. 25 Although the kinetics of the increase in biomass has been used as an indirect measure of biodegradation, 26 it is of limited value because of the variation of the yield coefficient with substrates and the nature of inoculum. 27 The rate coefficients listed in Table I show about the same degree of biodegradability for most samples (k ϭ 0.14 to 0.18 days…”