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BIONETS (THREE STACKED HYDRAULIC FRACTURES) CONTAINING SOLID OXYGEN SOURCE (SOS), ISOLITE (FIRED DIATOMACIOUS EARTH) AND BACTERIAL STRAIN PM1 TO STIMULATE IN SITU BIOREMEDIATION OF MTBE AND BTEX IN SOILS AND GROUNDWATER
Citation:
STAVNES, S. A., J. FLEISCHMAN, S. C. HUNT, K. HRISTOVA, J. L. GOETZ, M. KEMPER, M. H. ROULIER, W. R. MAHAFFNEY, D. J. SLOMCZYNSKI, D. FELDHAKE, K. SCOW, AND W. J. DAVIS-HOOVER. BIONETS (THREE STACKED HYDRAULIC FRACTURES) CONTAINING SOLID OXYGEN SOURCE (SOS), ISOLITE (FIRED DIATOMACIOUS EARTH) AND BACTERIAL STRAIN PM1 TO STIMULATE IN SITU BIOREMEDIATION OF MTBE AND BTEX IN SOILS AND GROUNDWATER. Presented at EPA SCIENCE FORUM 2005: COLLABORATIVE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS, WASHINGTON, DC, May 16 - 18, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
Collaboration with Office of Research and Development, Region 8, Foremost Solutions, University of California, and Native American Flathead Tribe lead to the development and demonstration of this treatment technology. In place BioNetsTM were developed, initiated, studied and used to successfully remediate methyl-tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) contaminated soils and groundwater. BioNets TM (each with three vertically-stacked hydraulic fractures), emplaced in the subsurface at a site in Montana, contained: 1) oxygen as Solid Oxygen Source (SOS) or air; 2) fracture material as Isolite@ or sand; 3) bacterial strain PM1 (aerobic MTBE degrading bacteria, monitorable with a genetic probe); and 4.) nutrients. After twenty-two months of treatment, the reductions of MTBE in groundwater samples were as high as 85 percent, and BTEX as high as 99.7 percent, where optimum conditions existed for biodegradation, i.e. the use of strain PM1 inoculated Isolite with SOS. The use of SOS stimulates more contaminant reduction than supplied air. After 12 months, DNA of PM1 was consistently found in the subsurface, near and four inches below the fractures.