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MTBE IN SITU BIODEGRADATION IN BIONETS USING ISOLITE, PM1, SLOW RELEASING OXYGEN AND AIR IN INDIAN COUNTRY
Citation:
DavisHoover*, W J., J. J. Fleischman, J Goetz*, K. Hristova, S. C. Hunt, AND et al. MTBE IN SITU BIODEGRADATION IN BIONETS USING ISOLITE, PM1, SLOW RELEASING OXYGEN AND AIR IN INDIAN COUNTRY. Presented at Society of Industrial Microbiologists 2002 Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, 08/11-15/2002.
Description:
Methyl tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive, is a persistent, foul tasting chemical and more mobile in ground water than BTEX. Our objective was to determine if biologically active in situ Bionets could bioremediate MTBE. Seven Bionets, most containing 3 fractures each, were placed in a site located on the Flathead Reservation Montana. The MTBE and BTEX plum was threatening Native American owned surface waters. The Bionets contained: 1. Isolite or sand as a control; 2. an aerobic bacteria known to degrade MTBE, PM1, which can be monitored with a genetic probe; 3. nutrients; and 4. oxygen as air or Slow Releasing Oxygen (SRO). Eight month results indicate that there is a direct correlation to the percent reduction of MTBE concentrations, the inoculation of PM1 and the number of fractures. The use of SRO stimulates more or as much reduction as the use of 8 months of air addition. After 8 months of inoculation, DNA of PM1 could be isolated from soils from the inoculated but not the uninoculated Bionets. Current results for BTEX and MTBE will also be presented.