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Natural Biodegradation of Vinyl Chloride and cis-Dichloroethene in Aerobic and Suboxic Conditions

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Abstract

Chlorinated ethene (CE) groundwater contamination is commonly treated through anaerobic biodegradation (i.e., reductive dechlorination) either as part of an engineered system or through natural attenuation. Aerobic biodegradation has also been recognized as a potentially significant pathway for the removal of the lower CEs cis-1,2-dichloroethene (cDCE) and vinyl chloride (VC). However, the role of aerobic biodegradation under low oxygen conditions typical of contaminated groundwater is unclear. Bacteria capable of aerobic VC biodegradation appear to be common in the environment, while aerobic biodegradation of cDCE is less common and little is known regarding the organisms responsible. In this study, we investigate the role of aerobic cDCE and VC biodegradation in a mixed contaminant plume (including CEs, BTEX, and ketones) at Naval Air Station North Island, Installation Restoration Site 9. Sediment and groundwater collected from the plume source area, mid-plume, and shoreline were used to prepare microcosms under fully aerobic (8 mg/L dissolved oxygen (DO)) and suboxic (< 1 mg/L DO) conditions. In the shoreline microcosms, VC and cDCE were rapidly degraded under suboxic conditions (100% and 77% removal in < 62 days). In the suboxic VC microcosms, biodegradation was associated with a > 5 order of magnitude increase in the abundance of functional gene etnE, part of the aerobic VC utilization pathway. VC and cDCE were degraded more slowly under fully aerobic conditions (74% and 30% removal) in 110 days. High-throughput 16S rRNA and etnE sequencing suggest the presence of novel VC- and cDCE-degrading bacteria. These results suggest that natural aerobic biodegradation of cDCE and VC is occurring at the site and provide new evidence that low (< 1 mg/L) DO levels play a significant role in natural attenuation of cDCE and VC.

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Data Availability

The high-throughput partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing data generated in this study were deposited in the GenBank Sequence Read Archive under BioProject number PRJNA756259. The etnE genes retrieved from sediment samples are deposited under GenBank accession numbers OK574327-OK574335. All other data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Erin Rosen and Pete Stang (Trevet) for their assistance collecting field samples. Also, we thank Garry Hauser and Mary Boes at the IIHG for their assistance with qPCR.

Funding

This study was conducted for Geosyntec Consultants on behalf of Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest (NAVFAC SW) under contract N62473-18-D-0202. Additional funding for aspects of this work was provided under by National Science Foundation Award 1802583.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 4105 Seamans Center, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA

    Patrick M. Richards, Jessica M. Ewald, Weilun Zhao & Timothy E. Mattes

  2. Geosyntec Consultants, Inc, 10211 Wincopin Circle, 4th Floor, Columbia, MD, 21044, USA

    Heather Rectanus, Dimin Fan & Neal Durant

  3. Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Southwest, 750 Pacific Hwy, San Diego, CA, 92132, USA

    Michael Pound

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  1. Patrick M. Richards
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  2. Jessica M. Ewald
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Contributions

Patrick M. Richards helped in conceptualization, methodology, investigation, visualization, writing—original draft preparation, writing—review and editing; Jessica M. Ewald contributed to investigation and methodology; Weilun Zhao investigated the study; Heather Rectanus and Dimin Fan performed conceptualization, methodology, project administration, writing—reviewing and editing; Neal Durant and Michael Pound were involved in conceptualization, funding acquisition, writing—reviewing and editing; Timothy E. Mattes helped in conceptualization, funding acquisition, methodology, project administration, resources, data curation, supervision, visualization, writing—reviewing and editing;

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Correspondence to Timothy E. Mattes.

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Richards, P.M., Ewald, J.M., Zhao, W. et al. Natural Biodegradation of Vinyl Chloride and cis-Dichloroethene in Aerobic and Suboxic Conditions. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 56154–56167 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19755-1

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