Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2003. / Advisor: Dr. David Balkwill, Florida State University, School of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Oceanography. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Apr. 7, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

Not available / text

Thesis (M.S. in environmental science)--Washington State University, May 2010. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on July 21, 2010). "School of Earth and Environmental Science." Includes bibliographical references (p. 23-28).

Permeable reactive biobarrier (PRBB) is a flow-through zone where microorganisms degrade contaminants in groundwater. Discontinuous presence of contaminants in groundwater causes performance loss of a PRBB in removing the target contaminant. A novel enricher reactor (ER) - PRBB system was developed to treat groundwater with contaminants that reappear after an absence period. ER is an offline reactor for enriching contaminant degraders, which were used for augmenting PRBB to maintain its performance after a period of contaminant absence. The ER-PRBB concept was initially applied to remove benzene that reappeared after absence periods of 10 and 25 days. PRBBs without ER augmentation experienced performance losses of up to 15% higher than ER-PRBBs. The role of inducer compounds in the ER to enrich bacteria that can degrade a mixture of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) was investigated with an objective to minimize the use of toxic chemicals as inducers. Three inducer types were studied: individual BTEX compounds, BTEX mixture, and benzoate (a non toxic and a common intermediate for BTEX biodegradation). Complete BTEX removal was observed for degraders enriched on all three inducer types; however, the removal rates were dependent on the inducer type. Degraders enriched on toluene and BTEX had the highest degradation rates for BTEX of 0.006 to 0.014 day-1 and 0.006 to 0.012 day-1, respectively, while degraders enriched on benzoate showed the lowest degradation rates of 0.004 to 0.009 day-1. The ER-PRBB technique was finally applied to address the performance loss of a PRBB due to inhibition interactions among BTEX, when the mixture reappeared after a 10 day absence period. The ER-PRBBs experienced minimal to no performance loss, while PRBBs without ER augmentation experienced performance losses between 11% and 35%. Presence of ethanol during the BTEX absence period increased the performance loss of PRBB for benzene removal. PRBBs augmented with degraders enriched on toluene alone overcame the inhibition interaction between benzene and toluene indicating that toluene can be used as a single effective inducer in an ER. The ER-PRBB was demonstrated to be a promising remediation technique and has potential for applications to a wide range of organic contaminants.

Graduation date: 1998

In situ bioremediation of pentachlorophenol-contaminated ground water in a sequential anaerobic-aerobic down borehole permeable barrier reactor requires a non-toxic primary substrate for dichlorophenol cometabolism. Serum bottle tests comparing the effectiveness of eight primary substrates for aerobic dichlorophenol degradation showed phenol to be the most effective followed by imitation vanilla flavoring, guaiacol, sodium benzoate, molasses, acetic acid, propylene glycol and ethyl vanillin in propylene glycol. As phenol is a pollutant, imitation vanilla flavoring is the recommended primary substrate for field use. In a second bottle test, 3,4,5-trichlorophenol was not sufficiently biotransformed, emphasizing the need for biotransformation to occur in the anaerobic zone of the reactor. / Graduation date: 1996

Chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons (CAHs) include tetrachloroethene (PCE), trichloroethene (TCE), and others. The industrial solvent TCE is among the most ubiquitous chlorinated compounds found in groundwater pollution. TCE in environment can be removed by physical, chemical and biological procedures. Dehalorespiration is a biological pathway from which bacteria can derive energy from the reductive dechlorination of chlorinated ethenes using hydrogen or organic acids as electron donors and yielding chloride and ethene as degradation products. Dehalorespiration can be used to remediate chlorinated ethene contaminated aquifers if an appropriate aquifer ecosystem exists including populations of dechlorinating bacteria and companion organisms that contribute to the biogeochemical environment conducive to dehalorespiration activity. Enhanced in-situ aerobic or anaerobic bioremediation of chlorinated solvents is a cost-effective, expanding technology for the clean-up of chlorinated solvent-contaminated sites. The objective of this pilot-scale study was to apply an enhanced in situ bioremediation technology to remediate TCE-contaminated groundwater. Both aerobic and anaerobic remedial systems were evaluated at a TCE-spill site located in southern Taiwan. In the aerobic bioremediation zone, the effectiveness of air, nutrient, and sugarcane molasses injection to enhance the aerobic cometabolism on TCE degradation was evaluated. Results show that the decreases in TCE concentration were observed over 204 days operating period. Up to 73¢H-99¢H of TCE removal efficiency was obtained in this treatment system. In the anaerobic test zone, the effectiveness of nutrient and sugarcane molasses injection to enhance the anaerobic dechlorination on TCE degradation was also evaluated. Results show that the decreases in TCE concentration were observed over a 193-day operating period. Up to 53¢H-91¢H of TCE removal efficiency was obtained in this treatment system. Polymerase chain reaction was applied to analyze the gene variation in TCE-microbial degraders during the treatment process. Results from this study indicate that the aerobic TCE-degraders (type¢¹methanotrophs and type ¢º methanotrophs) and the gene of degradation enzymes (toluene monooxygenase, toluene dioxygenase, particulate methane monooxygenase) were detected after the treatment process in the aerobic test zone. In the anaerobic treatment zone, Dehalococcoides (anaerobic TCE-degrader) and the gene of degradation enzyme (vcrA and tceA) were detected and a significant drop of TCE concentration was also observed. Based on 16S rDNA sequence analysis, samples of groundwater from aerobic/anaerobic bioremediation zone are close related to the genera of Dehalococcoides sp. MB, Dehalococcoides ethenogenes 195, Dehalococcoides sp. VS, Acidovorax sp., Alicycliphilus sp., Burkholderiales, Caulobacter sp., Caulobacter tuntrae, Caulobacter vibrioides, Comamonadaceae, Hydrogenophaga sp., Iron-reducing bacterium, Mitsuaria chitosanitabida, Rhodocyclacea, Pseudomonas sp., Rhodoferax ferrireducens, Acinetobater sp., actinomycete, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Variovorax sp. Results reveal that both the aerobic cometabolism and anaerobic dechlorination are feasible and applicable technologies to clean up TCE contaminated aquifers. Thus, the in situ bioremediation technology has the potential to be developed into an environmentally, economically and naturally acceptable remediation technology.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics." Includes bibliographical references (p. 112-131).

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the use of water table management (WTM) as a microbial delivery system for in-situ bioaugmentation of contaminated soils. In addition, the use of Rhizobium ( R.) for PCB degradation in soils was evaluated. / First, the presence and isolation of a variety of strains of Rhizobium meliloti was demonstrated using plant nodulation tests on alfalfa plants in soils that were contaminated for over 15 years with PCBs, PAHs and heavy metals. Next, R. meliloti, strain A-025, was selected based on its membrane (hydrophobicity, adhesion) characteristics and its potential to transform PCBs. This strain was delivered and implanted in sod columns, 200 mm in diameter x 1000 mm in length, packed with a sandy loam soil, using surface and subirrigation. The results of this study showed that subirrigation led to a higher number and a more uniform distribution of the bacterial cells in the soil at 60, 300, 500, and 700 mm depths, than surface irrigation. / In a different setup, similar column were packed with a PCB contaminated soil. These soil columns were bioaugmented with three bacterial cultures, i.e., R. meliloti (strain A-025), Comomonas testosteroni (strain B-356) and an indigenous bacterial consortium using subirrigation. The results indicated that bioaugmentation of the PCB contaminated soil was possible by using subirrigation. Bioaugmentation with the indigenous culture was observed to be more effective in the biodegradation of PCBs than with A-025 and B-356 cultures at 140 and 340 mm depths. However, at 590 mm depth, bioaugmentation with strain A-025 was observed to be better than the other treatments. Sequential aerobic and anaerobic cycles appear to be of significance for effective dechlorination of PCB congeners to lower chlorinated congeners. / In a separate exploratory study, the rhizospheric effects of alfalfa plants on R. meliloti for PCB depletion were investigated. The results suggest that the growth of alfalfa plants and bioaugmentation of soil with R. meliloti, strain A-025, increased the depletion of PCB congeners in the soil as compared to bioaugmentation alone. In other preliminary studies, the results showed that the presence of PCBs in a sandy loam soil increases the filtration of bacterial cells. Also, soil type and the presence of PCBs affected water infiltration, moisture, and hardness of the soil. Furthermore, water table management system along with bioaugmentation of soil columns with R. meliloti, strain A-025, decreased the concentration of atrazine by 31% during anaerobic and aerobic cycles and reduced the concentration of nitrate by 87% and 78% in the absence and presence of atrazine, respectively, in the drainage water. / The overall results of this work indicate that water table management (subirrigation) can be used for bioaugmentation of contaminated soils. Also, use of R. meliloti may prove to be an interesting option for soils contaminated with PCBs, atrazine and nitrate.

Thesis (M.Sc.). / Written for the Dept. of Natural Resource Sciences. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/07/30). Includes bibliographical references.