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Use of gene analysis to evaluate the groundwater microbial bioremediation processes of a TCE-contaminated site

The industrial solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) is among the most ubiquitous chlorinated compounds found in groundwater pollution. TCE in environment can be removed by physical, chemical and biological procedures. 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 test zone, the effectiveness of air, nutrient, and sugarcane molasses injection to enhance the aerobic cometabolism on TCE degradation was evaluated. In the anaerobic test zone, the effectiveness of nutrient and sugarcane molasses injection to enhance the anaerobic reductive dechlorination on TCE degradation was also evaluated. 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 ΒΆΒΊ 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. Moreover, TCE concentration dropped from approximately 0.1 mg/L to below 0.05 mg/L in the aerobic test zone after six months of treatment. In the anaerobic treatment zone, Dehalococcoides (anaerobic TCE-degrader) and the gene of degradation enzyme (vcrA) were detected and a significant drop of TCE concentration was also observed. Results reveal that both the aerobic cometabolism and anaerobic dechlorination are feasible and applicable technologies to clean up TCE contaminated aquifers.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0817109-154816
Date17 August 2009
CreatorsLiu, Wei-chen
ContributorsChi-Hsin Hsu, Jimmy C. M. Kao, Lei Yang, Jong-Kang Liu
PublisherNSYSU
Source SetsNSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive
LanguageCholon
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0817109-154816
Rightsrestricted, Copyright information available at source archive

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