A Penicillium camemberti strain isolated in this laboratory was studied for its ability to degrade chlorinated compounds including pentachlorophenol (PCP), 2-chlorophenol and trichloroacetic acid. The batch experiments were conducted in shake flasks using PCP as co-substrate resulting in around 56% PCP removal by the fungus. Experiments in shake flasks not containing acetate but Tween 80, produced 86% of PCP and 53% of 2-chlorophenol removals in 21 days. PCP was also fed to a column reactor with an adsorbable organic halogens (AOX) concentration of 63.4 mg/l. On the fourth day of operation, AOX removal was 77%, but this steadily dropped to 18.8% on the 18th day. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.