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LABORATORY AND FIELD STUDIES ON BTEX BIODEGRADATION IN A FUEL-CONTAMINATED AQUIFER UNDER DENITRIFYING CONDITIONS
Citation:
Hutchins, S. AND J. Wilson. LABORATORY AND FIELD STUDIES ON BTEX BIODEGRADATION IN A FUEL-CONTAMINATED AQUIFER UNDER DENITRIFYING CONDITIONS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/D-91/256 (NTIS PB92121227).
Description:
Laboratory studies were conducted in conjunction with a field demonstration project on nitrate-mediated biorestoration of a fuel-contaminated aquifer at a U.S. Coast Guard facility in Traverse City, MI. icrocosms were prepared under either aerobic or strictly anaerobic, denitrifying conditions using core samples aseptically obtained from the aquifer. he microcosms were spiked with aromatic hydrocarbons (BTEX) and incubated as 12 C. irtually all of the aromatic hydrocarbons, including benzene, were degraded to below detection limits with seven days under aerobic conditions, although o-xylene was somewhat more recalcitrant. nder denitrifying conditions, toluene, ethylbenzene, m-xylene, and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene were also degraded to below detection limits, although this occurred between two to three weeks. -Xylene was only slowly degraded and benzene was recalcitrant under denitrifying conditions. n the field demonstration project, an infiltration gallery was used to recirculate water at a rate sufficient to create a water table mound encompassing the contaminated interval. fter hydraulic equilibrium was achieved, nitrate and nutrients were added to the recharge water. enzene removal occurred before nitrate addition; mass balances indicated that sufficient oxygen was recirculated to account for complete biodegradation aerobically. ased on zero-order rate processes for BTEX removal, there was good agreement between removal rates observed in the field and those in the laboratory.