The bioavailability of sorbed organic chemicals is a major concern in the application of bioremediation processes to contaminated sediments. Sorption of pollutants may lead to the inability of microbes to come in contact with the compound. Studies presented herein investigate the biodegradation and desorption of fluorene, a 3 ringed polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), in estuarine sediment-water slurries. Adsorption of fluorene to sediments with 1.4% organic carbon was characterized with a linear isotherm. Desorption was characterized through step-desorption tests and temporal-desorption tests. Step-desorption studies confirmed that desorption was completely reversible, and batch desorption tests confirmed that desorption rate was rapid. Fluorene biodegradation was confirmed with $\sp{14}$C mass balance experiments, and fluorene disappearance was monitored in both the sediment and aqueous phase. In biologically active systems, fluorene was rapidly degraded to levels below detection limits. These studies conclude that the rate of fluorene disappearance in biologically active systems is controlled by microbial degradation rates and is not limited by desorption.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:RICE/oai:scholarship.rice.edu:1911/14070 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Chandra, Sirish Dandamudi |
| Source Sets | Rice University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Text |
| Format | application/pdf |
Page generated in 0.0126 seconds