Bioaugmentation for Groundwater Remediation

The application of bioaugmentation technology has the potential to reduce both the time and cost associated with remediating groundwater contaminated with chlorinated volatile organic compounds CVOC, and it has become widely used as an in situ treatment alternative. The primary goals of this field demonstration were to evaluate the amount of Dehalococcoides sp. DHC-containing bacterial culture needed to effectively remediate a CVOC-contaminated plume and to determine the effect of inoculum dose on remedial time. In addition, because of the low natural activity of hydrogens pH at the demonstration site, the ability to increase and maintain an elevated pH sufficient for successful bioremediation by adding buffers was evaluated. A chlorinated ethene groundwater plume present in the MAG-1 Area, Fort Dix, NJ MAG-1 was selected for the field demonstration component of this project. Bioaugmentation using Shaw Environmental, Inc. s Shaw dechlorinating consortium SDC-9 DHC-containing culture was performed in three separate groundwater recirculation loops, with one loop bioaugmented with 1 liter L of culture, the second loop bioaugmented with 10 L of culture, and the third loop bioaugmented with 100 L of culture. A fourth control loop was not bioaugmented. Groundwater monitoring was performed to evaluate DHC growth and migration, dechlorination kinetics, and aquifer geochemistry. The results of the demonstration were used to develop, evaluate, and refine a one-dimensional bioaugmentation fate and transport screening model. The model developed during this project provided a reasonable prediction of the data generated during the field demonstration.