The better degradation of toluene compared to benzene can be attributed to the mechanism of ring cleavage of the methyl group in toluene, microbial growth and their enzyme activities, the metabolic pathways
involved, and possible competitive inhibition between the substrates
(Delhoménie et al., 2003; Kyung-Suk et al., 2007).
Pressure drop values were nearly constant and varied between
3.5 and 7 cm of H2O/m bed height