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BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC CONTRIBUTIONS TO REDUCTIVE TRANSFORMATION OF ORGANIC POLLUTANTS
Citation:
Mack, E. E., J W. Beck, AND W J. Jones. BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC CONTRIBUTIONS TO REDUCTIVE TRANSFORMATION OF ORGANIC POLLUTANTS. Presented at 5th International Symposium on In Situ and On-Site Bioremediation, San Diego, CA, April 19-22, 1999.
Description:
The relative contributions of biotic and abiotic reductive transformation reactions were probed in two anoxic freshwater sediments by following the transformation of nitrobenzene, and 2,4 dichlorophenol (compounds with different one electron reduction potentials). The sediments differed in their ambient concentrations of iron, organic matter and in situ redox potential but both sediments were competent for transformation of the test compounds. The transformation of nitrobenzene is known to have both an abiotic and a biotic component. Of the two sediments tested, nitrobenzene reduction in one sediment was found to be predominantly carried out by abiotic pathways while in the other sediment biotic pathways dominated nitrobenzene reduction. Results suggest that the abiotic reduction of nitrobenzene is dependent upon specific pools of reduced iron present in the sediment. In comparison, reductive dechlorination of 2,4 dichlorophenol, a process known to occur via strictly biotic pathways, was limited by availability of organic carbon in one sediment and redox level in the other.