def parse_biom_config_file(biom_config_file):
    """Parses lines in a biom_config file.

    This function is ported from QIIME (http://www.qiime.org), previously named
    parse_qiime_config_file. QIIME is a GPL project, but we obtained permission
    from the authors of this function to port it to the BIOM Format project
    (and keep it under BIOM's BSD license).
    """
    result = {}
    for line in biom_config_file:
        line = line.strip()
        if not line or line.startswith('#'):
            continue
        fields = line.split()
        param_id = fields[0]
        param_value = ' '.join(fields[1:]) or None
        result[param_id] = param_value
    return result
