BIODEGRADATION KINETICS OF BENZENE AND TOLUENE AS SINGLE AND MIXED SUBSTRATE: ESTIMATION OF BIOKINETICS PARAMETERS BY APPLYING PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION

This paper aims to describe the microbial biodegradation kinetics of benzene and toluene as single and mixed substrates. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is used as the parameter identification procedure. Initially, the Monod and Andrews models were used. To predict the interactions between the substrates, more sophisticated models of inhibition and the SKIP model were applied. The development of the changes on the competitive inhibition model was also described. The models were evaluated using experimental data on Pseudomonas putida F1 activity found in the literature. Simulation results showed that the best description of the biodegradation process of a pure substrate can be achieved by the Andrews model and in the case of a mixture by the modified competitive inhibition model. These results were expected because both substrates are catabolized by the same metabolic pathway through Pseudomonas putida F1. The SKIP model also captured the substrate interactions well. The performance of PSO was excellent and the methodology developed in this work can be considered as very efficient.