Enhanced Biodegradation Through Soil Venting.

Abstract

The objective of this report was to investigate the potential for enhanced biodegradation of JP-4 jet fuel in the vadose zone by providing O2 through soil venting with added moisture and nutrients. Two treatment and two background plots were used, with different combinations of venting, moisture and nutrient additions at each one. Biodegradation rates varied from 2 to 20 mg/kg/day, with an average of 5 mg/(kg day). Moisture and nutrient addition had no apparent effect on biodegradation rates. The effects of soil temperature on biodegradation rates were shown to approximate effects predicted by the Van't Hoff-Arrhenius equation. In one treatment cell, approximately 26 kg of hydrocarbons/contaminants were volatilized and 32 kg were biodegraded. Although this equates to 55 percent of the total removal attributed to biodegradation, a series of flow rate tests showed that removal due to biodegradation could be increased to 85 percent by simply managing the air flow rates. Proper design and air flow management could result in complete biological mineralization of jet fuel, thereby reducing remediation costs.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1998
Accession Number
ADA359334

Entities

People

  • Robert E. Hinchee

Organizations

  • Battelle Memorial Institute

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Alkanes
  • Alkenes
  • Arrhenius Equation
  • Biodegradation
  • Chemistry
  • Environmental Pollutants
  • Fungi
  • Hydrocarbon Fuels
  • Materials Laboratories
  • Materials Processing
  • Materials Science
  • Materials Testing
  • Organic Compounds
  • Petroleum
  • Plastic Explosives
  • Rocket Oxidizers

Fields of Study

  • Agricultural and Food sciences

Readers

  • Agricultural Chemistry/Soil Science
  • Groundwater Contamination Remediation.
  • Mathematics or Statistics