Enhanced in Situ Anaerobic Bioremediation of Fuel-Contaminated Ground Water
Abstract
Enhanced anaerobic biodegradation of ground water contaminated by fuel hydrocarbons has been evaluated at a field demonstration conducted at the Naval Weapons Station, Seal Beach, California. This demonstration included establishing three different remediation zones in situ: one zone was augmented with sulfate, one was augmented with sulfate and nitrate, and the third was not augmented. This enables a comparison of hydrocarbon biodegradation under sulfate-reducing, sequential denitrifying/sulfate-reducing, and methanogenic conditions, respectively. In general, the results from the field demonstration are: (1) Certain fuel hydrocarbons were removed preferentially over others, but the order of preference depends on the geochemical conditions; and (2) in the zones that were augmented with sulfate and/or nitrate, the added electron acceptors were consumed quickly, indicating that enhancement via electron acceptor injection accelerates the biodegradation process. More specifically, in the sulfate-reducing zone, sulfate was utilized with an apparent first-order rate coefficient of approximately 0.1/day. In the combined denitrifying/sulfate- reducing zone, nitrate was utilized preferentially over sulfate, with an apparent first-order rate coefficient of 0.1-0.6/day. With regard to the aromatic BTEX hydrocarbons, toluene was preferentially removed under intrinsic conditions; biodegradation of benzene was slow if it occurred at all; augmentation with sulfate preferentially stimulated biodegradation of o-xylene; and ethylbenzene appeared recalcitrant under sulfate-reducing conditions but readily degradable under denitrifying conditions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA382558
Entities
People
- Carmen Lebrón
- Gary Hopkins
- Jeff A. Cunningham
- Martin Reinhard
Organizations
- Stanford University