TCE Remediation Using In Situ, Resting-State Bioaugmentation

A field test has demonstrated that an in situ biofilter using resting-state cells effectively remediated groundwater with about 425 ppb of trichloroethene (TCE) as the sole contaminant species. About 5.4 kg (dry weight equivalent) of a strain of methanotrophic bacteria (Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b) was suspended in 1800 L of groundwater (5.4 x 10{sup 9} cells/mL) and injected into an aquifer through a single well at a depth of 27 m, several meters below the water table. The injected groundwater was devoid of TCE and growth substrates but was amended with a phosphate solution (10 mM) to buffer the pH and phenol red (20 {mu}m) to act as a tracer. Approximately 50% of the injected bacteria attached to the sediments, forming an in situ, fixed-bed bioreactor of unknown geometry. Contaminated groundwater was subsequently withdrawn through the biofilter region by extracting at 3.8 L/min for 30 h and then at 2.0 L/min for the remaining 39 days of the field experiment. TCE concentrations in the extracted groundwater decreased from 425 to less than 10 ppb during the first 50h of withdrawal, which is equivalent to a 98% reduction. TCE concentration extracted through the biofilter gradually increased to background values at 40 daysmore » when the experiment was terminated. 31 refs., 7 figs., 2 tabs.« less