Biodegradation

, Volume 21, Issue 6, pp 947–956 | Cite as

Development of a treatment solution for reductive dechlorination of hexachloro-1,3-butadiene in vadose zone soil

  • Lachlan H. Yee
  • Vibeke Aagaard
  • Angela Johnstone
  • Matthew Lee
  • Staffan J. Kjelleberg
  • Mike Manefield
Original Paper
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

The biodegradation of chlorinated organics in vadose zone soils is challenging owing to the presence of oxygen, which inhibits reductive dehalogenation reactions and consequently the growth of dehalorespiring microbes. In addition, the hydraulic conductivity of vadose zone soils is typically high, hence attempts to remediate such zones with biostimulation solutions are often unsuccessful due to the short residence times for these solutions to act upon the native bacterial community. In this study we have identified sodium alginate as a hydrogel polymer that can be used to increase the residence time of a nutrient solution in an unsaturated sandy soil. Additionally we have identified neutral red as a redox active compound that can catalyse the reductive dechlorination of the chlorinated organic hexachloro-1,3-butadiene by activated sludge fed with lactate and acetate. Finally we have shown that a nutrient solution amended with neutral red and sodium alginate can lower the redox potential and reduce hexachloro-1,3-butadiene concentrations in a contaminated vadose zone soil.

Keywords

Soil bioremediation In situ dechlorination Alginate polymer Hexachloro-1,3-butadiene Biostimulation Neutral red 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Environmental Biotechnology Cooperative Research Centre and Orica Australia Pty Ltd. Mike Manefield, Lachlan Yee and Matthew Lee were supported by postdoctoral fellowships. Vibeke Aagaard and Angela Johnstone were supported by student stipends.

References

  1. Altschul SF, Madden TL, Schäffer AA, Zhang J, Zhang Z, Miller W, Lipman DJ (1997) Gapped BLAST and PSI-BLAST: a new generation of protein database search programs. Nucleic Acids Res 25:3389–3402CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. Cassidy MB, Lee H, Trevors JT (1997) Survival and activity of lac-lux marked Pseudomonas aeruginosa UG2Lr cells encapsulated in κ-carrageenan over four years at 4°C. J Microbiol Methods 30(2):167–170CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Coviello T, Matricardi P, Marianecci C, Alhaique F (2007) Polysaccharide hydrogels for modified release formulations. J Colloid Release 119:5–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Cronk JK, Fennessy MS (2001) Wetland plants: biology and ecology. CRC Press LLC, Boca RatonCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Engler RM Jr, Patrick WH (1973) Sulfate reduction and sulfide oxidation in flooded soil as affected by chemical oxidants. Soil Sci Soc Am J 37:685–688CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Ferguson JF, Pietari JMH (2000) Anaerobic transformations and bioremediation of chlorinated solvents. Environ Pollut 107(2):209–215CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  7. Gentry TJ, Rensing C, Pepper IL (2004) New approaches for bioaugmentation as a remediation technology. Crit Rev Environ Sci Technol 34(5):447–494CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. James D, Cord-Ruwisch R, Schleheck D, Lee M, Manefield M (2008) Cyanocobalamin enables activated sludge bacteria to dechlorinate Hexachloro-1, 3-butadiene to nonchlorinated Gases. Bioremediat J 12(4):177–184CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Lecloux A (2004) Hexachlorobutadiene—sources, environmental fate and risk characteristics. Sci Doss 5:1–33Google Scholar
  10. Manefield M, Whiteley AS, Griffiths RI, Bailey M (2002) RNA stable isotope probing, a novel means of linking microbial community function to phylogeny. Appl Environ Microbiol 68:5367–5373CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  11. Moslemy P, Guiot S, Neufeld R (2004) Activated sludge encapsulation in gellan gum microbeads for gasoline biodegradation. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 26(4):1–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Shi Lei, Harms Hauke, Wick LukasY (2008) Electroosmotic flow stimulates the release of alginate-bound phenanthrene. Environ Sci Technol 42(6):2105–2110CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  13. So CM, Young LY (1999) Isolation and characterisation of a sulfate-reducing bacterium that anaerobically degrades alkanes. Appl Environ Microbiol 65:2969–2976PubMedGoogle Scholar
  14. Sriamornsak P, Sungthongjeen S (2007) Modification of theophylline release with alginate gel formed in hard capsules. AAPS PharmSciTech 8(3), Article 51 (E1–E8)Google Scholar
  15. Van der Zee FP, Cervantes FJ (2009) Impact and application of electron shuttles on the redox (bio) transformation of contaminants: a review. Biotechnol Adv 27(3):256–277CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  16. Whiteley A, Bailey MJ (2000) Bacterial community structure and physiological state within an industrial phenol bioremediation system. Appl Environ Microbiol 66:2400–2407CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  • Lachlan H. Yee
    • 1
  • Vibeke Aagaard
    • 1
  • Angela Johnstone
    • 1
  • Matthew Lee
    • 1
  • Staffan J. Kjelleberg
    • 1
  • Mike Manefield
    • 1
  1. 1.Centre for Marine Bio-InnovationThe University of New South WalesSydneyAustralia

Personalised recommendations