Abstract
The chemical interactions of hydrophobic organic contaminants with soils and sediments may result in strong binding and slow subsequent release rates that significantly affect remediation rates and endpoints. In order to illustrate the recalcitrance of chemical to degradation on sites, a sorption mechanism of intraparticle sequestration was postulated to operate on chemical remediation sites. Pseudo-first order sequestration kinetics is used in the study with the hypothesis that sequestration is an irreversibly surface-mediated process. A mathematical model based on mass balance equations was developed to describe the fate of chemical degradation in soil/water microcosm systems. In the model, diffusion was represented by Fick’s second law, local sorption-desorption by a linear isotherm, irreversible sequestration by a pseudo-first order kinetics and biodegradation by Monod kinetics. Solutions were obtained to provide estimates of chemical concentrations. The mathematical model was applied to a benzene biodegradation batch test and simulated model responses correlated well compared to measurements of biodegradation of benzene in the batch soil/water microcosm system. A sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the effects of several parameters on model behavior. Overall chemical removal rate decreased and sequestration increased quickly with an increase in the sorption partition coefficient. When soil particle radius, a, was greater than 1 mm, an increase in radius produced a significant decrease in overall chemical removal rate as well as an increase in sequestration. However, when soil particle radius was less than 0.1 mm, an increase in radius resulted in small changes in the removal rate and sequestration. As pseudo-first order sequestration rate increased, both chemical removal rate and sequestration increased slightly. Model simulation results showed that desorption resistance played an important role in the bioavailability of organic chemicals in porous media. Complete biostabilization of chemicals on remediation sites can be achieved when the concentration of the reversibly sorbed chemical reduces to zero (i.e., undetectable), with a certain amount of irreversibly sequestrated chemical left inside the soil particle solid phase.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander, M. (1977). Introduction to soil microbiology. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley.
Alexander, M. (1995). How toxic are toxic chemicals in soil? Environmental Science & Technology, 29, 2713–2717.
Angley, J. T., Brusseau, L., Miller, W. L., & Delfino, J. J. (1992). Nonequilibrium sorption and aerobic biodegradation of dissolved alkylbenzenes during transport in aquifer material: Column experiments and evaluation of a coupled-process model. Environmental Science & Technology, 26, 1404–1410.
Ball, W. P., Euehler, E., Harmon, T. C., & et al. (1990). Characterization of a sandy aquifer materials at the grain scale. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 5, 253–295.
Ball, W. P., & Roberts, P. V. (1991). Long-term sorption of halogenated organic chemicals by aquifer material. 2. Intraparticle diffusion. Environmental Science & Technology, 25, 1237–1249.
Bollag, J. M., & Loll, M. J. (1983). Incorporation of xenobiotics into soil humus. Experientia, 39, 1221–1231.
Bollag, J. M., & Myers, C. (1992). Detoxification of aquatic and terrestrial sites through binding of pollutants to humic substances. Science of the Total Environment, 117, 357–366.
Bouwer, E. J., & McCarty, P. L. (1985). Utilization rates of trace halogenated organic compounds in acetate-supported biofilms. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 17, 1564–1571.
Brusseau, M. L., & Rao, P. S. C. (1991). Influence of sorbate structure on nonequilibrium sorption of organic compounds. Environmental Science & Technology, 25, 1501–1506.
Chung, G. Y., McCoy, B. J., & Scow, K. M. (1993). Criteria to assess when biodegradation is kinetically limited by intraparticle diffusion and sorption. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 41, 625–632.
Dykaar, B. E., & Kitanidis, P. K. (1996). Macrotransport of a biologically reacting solute through porous media. Water Resources Research, 32, 307–320.
Gong, Y., & Depinto, J. V. (1998). Desorption rates of two PCB congeners from suspended sediments. II. Model simulation. Water Research, 32(8), 2518–2532.
Hatzinger, P. B., & Alexander, M. (1995). Effect of aging of chemicals in soil on their biodegradability and extractability. Environmental Science & Technology, 29, 537–545.
Karickhoff, S. W. (1984). Organic pollutant sorption in aquatic systems. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 110, 707–735.
Lawrence, G. P., Payne, D., & Greenland, D. (1979). Pore size distribution in critical point and freeze dried aggregates from clay subsoils. J Soil Scoi, 30, 499–516.
Linz, D., & Nakles, D. (1997). Environmental acceptable endpoints in soils. Annapolis: Maryland American Academy of Environmental Engineers.
Luthy, R. G., & et al. (1997). Sequestration of hydrophobic organic contaminants by geosorbents. Environmental Science & Technology, 31(12), 3341–3347.
Mackay, D., Shiu, W. Y., & Ma, K. C. (1992). Illustrated handbook of physical-chemical properties and environmental fate for organic chemicals. Volume 2. Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, Polychlorinated dioxins, and dibenzofurans. 121 South Main Street, Chelsea, Michigan. USA: Lewis.
Mihelcic, J. R., Lueking, D. R., Mitzell, R., & Stapleton, J. M. (1993). Bioavailability of sorbed- and separate-phase chemicals. Biodegradation, 4(3), 141–154.
Miller, M. E., & Alexander, M. (1991). Kinetics of bacterial degradation of benzylamine in a Montmorillonite suspension. Environmental Science & Technology, 25, 240–245.
Mohammed, N., & Allayla, R. I. (1997). Modeling transport and biodegradation of BTX compounds in saturated sandy soil. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 54, 155–174.
Ogram, A. V., Jessup, R. E., Ou, L. T., & Rao, P. S. C. (1985). Effects of sorption on biological degradation rates of (2,4-dichlorophenoxy) acetic acid in soils. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 49, 582–587.
Pedit, J. A., & Miller, C. T. (1994). Heterogeneous sorption processes in subsurface systems. 2. Diffusion modeling approaches. Environmental Science & Technology, 29, 1766–1772.
Pignatello, J. J., & Xing, B. (1996). Mechanisms of slow sorption of organic chemicals to natural particles. Environmental Science & Technology, 30, 1–11.
Rijnaarts, H. H. M., Bachmann, A., Jumelet, J., & Zehnder, A. (1990). Effect of desorption and intraparticle mass transfer on the aerobic biomineralization of α-hexachlorocyclohexane in a contaminated calcareous soil. Environmental Science & Technology, 24, 1349–1354.
Scow, K. M., Smikins, S., & Alexander, M. (1986). Kinetics of mineralization of organic compounds at low concentrations in soil. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 51, 1028–1035.
Smith, G. D. (1985). Numerical solution of partial differential equations: Finite difference methods (p. 335). New York: Oxford University Press.
Wu, S. C., & Gschwend, P. M. (1986). Sorption kinetics of hydrophobic organic compounds to natural sediments and soils. Environmental Science & Technology, 20, 717–725.
Zhang, W., Bouwer, E., Wilson, L., and Durant, N. (1995). Biotransformation of aromatic hydrocarbons in subsurface biofilms. Water Science and Technology, 31(1), 1–14.
Zhang, W., & Bouwer, E. (1997). Biodegradation of benzene, toluene and naphthalene in soil-water slurry microcosms. Biodegradation, 8, 167–175.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liu, L., Tindall, J.A., Friedel, M.J. et al. Biodegradation of Organic Chemicals in Soil/Water Microcosms System: Model Development. Water Air Soil Pollut 178, 131–143 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-006-9185-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-006-9185-z