title: Assessment of intrinsic bioremediation of a coal-tar-affected aquifer using Two-dimensional reactive transport and Biogeochemical mass balance approaches.
abstract: Expedited site characterization and groundwater monitoring using direct-push technology and conventional monitoring wells were conducted at a former manufactured gas plant site. Biogeochemical data and heterotrophic plate counts support the presence of microbially mediated remediation. By superimposing solutions of a two-dimensional reactive transport analytical model, first-order degradation rate coefficients ((day-1) ) of various compounds for the dissolved-phase plume were estimated (i.e., benzene [0.0084], naphthalene [0.0058], and acenaphthene [0.0011]). The total mass transformed by aerobic respiration, nitrate reduction, and sulfate reduction around the free-phase coal-tar dense-nonaqueous-phase-liquid region and in the plume was estimated to be approximately 4.5 kg/y using a biogeochemical mass-balance approach. The total mass transformed using the degradation rate coefficients was estimated to be approximately 3.6 kg/y. Results showed that a simple two-dimensional analytical model and a biochemical mass balance with geochemical data from expedited site characterization can be useful for rapid estimation of mass-transformation rates.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Shane W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: Say Kee
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Ong
authors.forename: Greg A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Stenback
authors.forename: Johanshir
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Golchin
authors.forename: Bruce H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Kjartanson
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D003033:Coal Tar / Q000378:metabolism*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis; D018508:Water Purification
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D003033:Coal Tar