You are here:
IN SITU BIOREMEDIATION OF TRICHLOROETHYLENE USING BURKHOLDERIA CEPACIA G4 PR1: ANALYSIS OF TRANSPORT PARAMETERS FOR RISK ASSESSMENT (RESEARCH BRIEF)
Citation:
Lawrence, J. R. AND M. J. Hendry. IN SITU BIOREMEDIATION OF TRICHLOROETHYLENE USING BURKHOLDERIA CEPACIA G4 PR1: ANALYSIS OF TRANSPORT PARAMETERS FOR RISK ASSESSMENT (RESEARCH BRIEF). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Health and Environmental Effects Research, Gulf Ecology Division, Gulf Breeze, FL, EPA/600/S-98/008, 1998.
Impact/Purpose:
Experiments were performed to better understand bacterial sorption in saturated porous media.
Description:
Transport of bacteria through geologic media may be viewed as being governed by sorption-desorption reactions. In this investigation, four facets of the process were examined: (I) the impact of sorption on bacterial transport under typical ground water flow velocities and a different transport distances, (II) the impact of water velocity on bacterial sorption and thus transport, (III) the impact of other species of bacteria on bacterial transport through porous media, and (IV) the ability of the bacterium to bind to biofilms and integrate into existing microbial communities. The experiments used three bacteria, Klebsiella oxytoca, Burkholderia cepacia G4 PR1, and Pseudomonas #5, a subsurface isolate. The modeling results suggested that irreversible sorption (kirr) was a function of mean transit time (to) whereby the product (to.kirr), which is defined as the equivalent irreversible sorption parameter (A), was constant (mean value of 3.36) at the scales of this investigation. The migration of K. oxytoca was predictable under a broad range in groundwater velocities, and the transport of G4 PR1 was predictable at velocities >=3.5 cm. hr-1. Sorption characteristics were bacteria-specific, and bacterial interactions during transport of bacteria included: no impact, increased/decreased peak concentration and tailing, and displacement of resident bacteria by planktonic populations during attachment. Thus the transport of G4 PR1 may be facilitated by the presence of specific bacterial and retarded by the presence of others.