Evaluation of Performance and Costs Associated with Anaerobic Dechlorination Techniques. Phase 1 Site Survey, Rev 2
Abstract
The DoD has identified hundreds of sites with groundwater contaminated with chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons (CAHs, which are commonly referred to as chlorinated solvents), and these represent one of the DoDs largest remediation liabilities. At present, the number of commercially-available proven technologies for effective treatment of these sites is limited. One very promising technology is anaerobic dechlorination, which may be an effective method of degrading various forms of chloroethenes, chloroethanes, and chloromethanes dissolved in groundwater. The objective of this report is to summarize relevant performance and cost data on various engineered approaches to stimulate in situ anaerobic dechlorination of CAHs. The most common CAHs targeted for remediation are tetrachloroethene (PCE), trichloroethene (TCE), trichloroethane (TCA), carbon tetrachloride (CT), and their daughter products. A number of different approaches have been or currently are being demonstrated. Numerous universities, government entities, and private industries have applied a wide variety of substrates to promote anaerobic reductive dechlorination. However, the in situ enhanced bioremediation approach is not widely used, nor has it gained widespread regulatory acceptance. A comprehensive program to evaluate and compare alternative approaches is needed to assist DoD managers in assessing the application of the technology for their sites and in identifying the optimum approach. Anaerobic dechlorination can be defined as the biologically-driven reductive degradation of chlorinated compounds. During these reactions, the chlorinated compounds may serve as energetic electron acceptors in catabolic processes, or may be cometabolized, but in either case the compounds are reduced. The most thoroughly studied anaerobic dechlorination pathway is degradation of PCE to TCE to cis-1,2-dichloroethene (cis-1,2-DCE) to vinyl chloride (VC), and finally to ethene and ethane.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA608485
Entities
People
- Bryan Harre
Organizations
- Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command