You are here:
MASS BALANCE ANALYSIS FOR MICROBIAL DECHLORINATION OF TETRACHLOROETHENE
Citation:
Shen, H., S C. Mravik*, AND G. W. Sewell. MASS BALANCE ANALYSIS FOR MICROBIAL DECHLORINATION OF TETRACHLOROETHENE. Presented at 226th ACS Nat'l. Mtg, New York, NY, September 07 - 11, 2003.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
Contamination of subsurface environments by chlorinated aliphatic solvents and petroleum hydrocarbons is a significant public health concern because groundwater is one of the major drinking water resources in the United States. Biotic and abiotic techniques have been widely examined and explored to cleanup these pollutants (1, 2). Since most abiotic transformations of chlorinated compounds are slow, bioremediation, due to its low cost and effectiveness, has emerged as one of the most active approaches for in situ treatment of subsurface contamination (1). Biologically mediated oxidation of trichloroethene (TCE), dichloroethenes (DCEs) and vinyl chloride (VC) under aerobic conditions has been extensively studied (1,2).
However, tetrachloroethene (PCE) is resistant to microbial oxidation, and anaerobic processes are required for PCE dechlorination through reductive mechanisms (2). Anaerobic reductive transformation of PCE to less chlorinated ethenes has been intensively studied in the laboratory and recently applied in the field for PCE remediation/cleanup (2-4). This paper presents mass balance analysis of laboratory and field experimental results to demonstrate the performance of PCE dechlorination, the spectrum of electron transfer, and microbial biomass changes during PCE dechlorination.