Biodegradability

Abstract

The significance of biodegradability in the treatment and discharge of waste waters to natural bodies of water is discussed. Various methods of assessing biodegradability are described and their limitations illustrated by a consideration of the characteristics of bacterial growth and metabolism, including the phenomenon of co-metabolism. Factors determining biodegradability, including molecular structure, are examined and the long-held ‘principle of microbial infallibility’ is reviewed in the light of the apparent recalcitrance of some synthetic and natural compounds and of current views on the acquisition by bacteria of new oxidative abilities.