Kinetics of the biodegradation pathway of endosulfan in the aerobic and anaerobic environments

• Study of biodegradation of endosulfan (ES) in aqueous and soil slurry environments.
• Kinetics of entire aerobic and anaerobic degradation pathways of ES was examined.
• The rate of biodegradation of β-isomer was faster compared with α-isomer of ES.
• Break-down of ES to endosulfan sulfate and endosulfan diol were the rate limiting steps.
• On the soil phase, the rate of degradation of β-isomer slowed down more than α-isomer.

The enriched mixed culture aerobic and anaerobic bacteria from agricultural soils were used to study the degradation of endosulfan (ES) in aqueous and soil slurry environments. The extent of biodegradation was ∼95% in aqueous and ∼65% in soil slurry during 15 d in aerobic studies and, ∼80% in aqueous and ∼60% in soil slurry during 60 d in anaerobic studies. The pathways of aerobic and anaerobic degradation of ES were modeled using combination of Monod no growth model and first order kinetics. The rate of biodegradation of β-isomer was faster compared to α-isomer. Conversion of ES to endosulfan sulfate (ESS) and endosulfan diol (ESD) were the rate limiting steps in aerobic medium and, the hydrolysis of ES to ESD was the rate limiting step in anaerobic medium. The mass balance indicated further degradation of endosulfan ether (ESE) and endosulfan lactone (ESL), but no end-products were identified. In the soil slurries, the rates of degradation of sorbed contaminants were slower. As a result, net rate of degradation reduced, increasing the persistence of the compounds. The soil phase degradation rate of β-isomer was slowed down more compared with α-isomer, which was attributed to its higher partition coefficient on the soil.