Assessment of intrinsic bioremediation of a coal-tar-affected aquifer using Two-dimensional reactive transport and Biogeochemical mass balance approaches.
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.
Rogers
Shane W
SW
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
Ong
Say Kee
SK
Stenback
Greg A
GA
Golchin
Johanshir
J
Kjartanson
Bruce H
BH
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
D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D003033:Coal Tar