No description available.

Forty rats, in groups of ten, were orally dosed with corn oil, corn oil and 2,000 mg/kg trichloroethylene (TCE), corn oil and 2,000 mg/kg lead carbonate, or a mixture of 2,000 mg/kg each TCE and lead carbonate, in an effort to determine whether or not dual administration of both TCE and lead would have an additive effect on neurotoxicity and overall health as indicated by behavioral and physiologic measurements and tissue pathology. A functional observational test battery (FOB) was performed before, during, and after dose administration to assess dose-related changes. The FOB testing assessed behavioral and physiologic measurements such as gait, open field activity, posture, grip strength, and handling reactivity. Pathological examination included assessing dosing related changes in the testis, spleen, heart, liver, kidney-adrenals, and brain. Results indicated that each compound was toxic individually, and that the combination of the two neurotoxicants provided conflicting indications of both reduced and additive toxicity. The toxicity of lead carbonate caused the vast majority of toxic consequences in the study. A reduction in body weight and an increased resistance to cage removal were the only statistically significant changes observed in the FOB that were due to concurrent administration of lead and TCE. Organ-to-body weight and organ-to-brain weight calculations showed evidence of a statistical difference between the lead and lead/TCE dosed animals for liver, kidney-adrenals, and body weight. The significance of these changes is not fully understood. / Master of Science

No description available.

A novel, portable, filter fluorometer was developed for the determination of chloroform and TCE at environmentally-relevant levels when coupled with improved sampling techniques and reagents. Reagents selective for the TCE or chloroform convert these toxic species into fluorescent species that can be monitored. The fluorometer is based on LED excitation light sources, a battery-operated photomultiplier tube as a radiation detector, and appropriate excitation and emission filters. A unique low-power, miniature heater inside the cell holder of the fluorometer provides control of the temperature of the reagent solution above ambient temperature. The fluorometer and the sampling systems, including a miniature air pump, are portable and can be operated from a small lead battery over an entire day. Sparging, passive transfer, and membrane sampling techniques were used to transfer TCE or chloroform from the sample solution as a vapor into the appropriate reagent and to provide preconcentration. The apparatus for membrane sampling was improved to be applicable for continuous sampling of water in the field situations with minimal sample manipulation. Each of the three sampling techniques provides a transfer rate of the analyte of ~1 ng/min per ng/mL of analyte in the sample. The optimized reagent based on 1-(3-pyridylmethyl)urea provides high selectivity to chloroform and the reagent based on isonicotinamide has excellent selectivity to TCE. These two reagents serve as an alternative to the more common pyridine reagent for the determination of chloroform or TCE in water and eliminate the exposure of the user to toxic pyridine vapor. The developed filter fluorometer, the optimized reagents, and the membrane sampling technique provide a detection limit for chloroform of 0.2 and 10 ng/mL, respectively, with the pyridine and 1-(3-pyridylmethyl)urea reagent. The detection limit for TCE is 0.3 ng/mL with the isonicotinamide reagent. For TCE, the detection limit is almost two orders of magnitude better than obtained previously with a fluorometric technique. Analysis times vary from 15 to 30 min. / Graduation date: 2003

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2010. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 276-302). Also available on the World Wide Web.

No description available.

A thermal conductive heating (TCH) pilot test was conducted at the Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) in West Trenton, New Jersey in 2009 in collaboration with TerraTherm, Inc., the Naval Facilities Engineering Services Center and the United States Geological Survey. The NAWC site was historically used as a jet engine testing facility from the mid-1950s to the late 1990s. During this time, the subsurface was contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) which was a common solvent used at the facility. The pilot test consisted of 15 heater/extraction wells installed to a depth of 16.8 m in weathered mudstone and operated for 102 days. Rock core samples were taken pre- and post-remediation to measure the initial TCE concentrations and evaluate the effect the TCH pilot test had. The data collected during the pilot test was used to create a two-dimensional (2D) finite difference model using TMVOC. TMVOC is part of the TOUGH 2 family of codes and is a numerical model that is capable of simulating multiphase flow, heat transfer and transport of volatile organic compounds in three-dimensional heterogenous porous media or fractured rock. The 2D model was used as a screening model to investigate TCE removal from the rock matrix when heating for 100 days with a similar heating pattern to what was employed at the NAWC site. The numerical domain incorporated three primary fractures with competent bedrock in between. As the test pilot was conducted in the weathered bedrock zone, a sensitivity analysis was first completed on the matrix permeability to help to match the TCE removal from the pilot test. The pilot test had a 63.5% removal of TCE from the study area compared to 67% from the baseline model. A limited sensitivity analysis was completed which investigated how the matrix porosity and rate of energy application would have on the success of TCE removal from the rock matrix. It revealed that the TCE removal increases with increased matrix porosity and increased rate of energy application. / Thesis (Master, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2013-01-02 22:32:05.274

This study is an investigation into the biodegradation potential of a TCE contaminated aquifer located at the Atomic Weapons Establishment in the UK, and the remediation prospects by employing biological and biotechnological processes such as bacterial community structure and diversity assessment, toxicity and isotopic fractionation.  Quarterly monitoring of boreholes from the former military site suggested that the plume is predominantly aerobic and therefore reliance cannot be placed only on natural attenuation.  In addition the contaminated plume contains a variety of volatile organic chemicals, petroleum, diesel and metals, which introduces potential co-metabolites as well as additional toxicity.  Assessment of the natural bacterial community of the site revealed sufficient bacterial counts to support intrinsic bioremediation and the presence of multiple additional contaminants.  Variable toxicity responses not solely explainable by TCE were observed with a broad functional bacterial diversity, which could be bio-stimulated (with substrates such as the terpenes carvone, pulegone and linalool as well as the aromatic compound cumene) or bio-augmented (with <i>Dehalosporillium multivorans</i>) to increase rates of TCE degradation.  Other additional agents such as iron filings were able to stimulate rapid rates of TCE degradation.  There is also evidence of potential TCE degraders within the more heavily contaminated boreholes (the finding of <i>Pseudomonas putida</i>).  Lastly isotopic fractionation suggests that degradation of TCE is occurring on site.

Remediation of trichloroethylene (TCE) is a major priority for many contaminated sites all over the industrialized world including Hill Air Force Base, UT (HAFB). Phytoremediation as part of a cleanup strategy is an appealing option, and trees at HAFB have been studied to this end. Trees have also been used to delineate groundwater plumes because the passive uptake of organic contaminants by trees generally results in a direct relationship between tree and groundwater TCE concentrations if the trees are using the contaminated groundwater. However, the concentrations of plant-produced TCE metabolites can vary greatly. It was hypothesized that the endophytic microbial community present may be affecting the fate of TCE within these trees. This study was designed to determine if the microbial community present within hybrid poplar trees would change in response to TCE exposure. Trees were grown in a greenhouse to reduce environmental variability. Concentrations of TCE, its degradation products, and its metabolites were then measured in these trees. DNA was extracted from the tree tissues and amplified to determine the quantity of microbial DNA. Diversity of this DNA was determined by fragment analysis. Data were analyzed to determine if there was an effect of TCE treatment on the microbial community composition in the trees. Results showed that all tissues of dosed trees contained TCE. Metabolism of TCE to trichloroacetic acid (TCAA) and trichloroethanol (TCEtOH) in tree tissues was observed by the accumulation of these metabolites. Microbial DNA results revealed that TCE treatment reduced both the quantity and diversity of endophytic bacteria and fungi in several cases. Multivariate statistical analyses also showed that the endophytic microbial community shifted in response to TCE treatment. The endophytic microbial communities present in the hybrid poplar trees of this study were high in concentration and diversity, both of which were affected by TCE treatment. Endophytic bacterial concentrations were observed at over 109 copies/g with diversities of 70+ genetically distinct organisms. Decreases in these values with the addition of TCE showed that the community dramatically changed in some cases, but was able to more quickly adapt to TCE addition in other cases. The effects of these endophytic microorganisms associated with plants should therefore be included when phytoremediation is considered.

Volatile chlorinated solvents such as trichloroethylene (TCE), 1,2 dichloroethane (1,2 DCA), and perchloroethylene (PCE) have been identified in the indoor air of residences located near Hill Air Force Base (AFB), Utah. These vapors can originate from either volatilization of contaminates from shallow contaminated groundwater and transport into residences or from sources within the residence. The focus of the thesis was the development of a testing strategy for determining sources of TCE, 1,2 DCA, and PCE in the indoor air of residences near Hill AFB. Eight residences were selected for this study by Hill AFB based on prior detections of TCE, 1,2 DCA, and PCE in indoor air. Residents were asked to turn off the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and keep windows and doors closed for at least 3 hours prior to the sampling visit to reduce mixing of residence air. Indoor air samples were collected on Tenax© sorbent tubes from various locations within the residences to determine the location of the potential source(s). Sampling tubes were analyzed by thermal desorption gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Results from a tracer experiment using sulfur hexafluoride gas confirmed the effectiveness of sampling approach. In cases where elevated levels of chlorinated solvents were found, the suspected source materials(s) were removed and the room air was re-sampled. If removal of the materials reduced or eliminated indoor air contamination, an emission chamber was used to determine contaminant emission from the materials. Sources were identified in three of the sampled residences. Sampling in two of the residences was discontinued due to scheduling problems. Sources were not located in the remaining residences. The emission of contaminants from items identified as sources in two of the residences was measured using an emission chamber developed for this project. An ornament from residence U8-8452 emitted 36.4 ng/min/cm2 of 1,2 DCA. The emission of 1,2 DCA from a wedding dress located at residence U8-8211 was below the method detection limit of 1.99 pg/min/cm2 but the emission of PCE was 18.9 ng/min/cm2 and decreased by a factor of 7 during repeated measurements.