NUTRIENT STIMULATION OF SULFOLANE BIODEGRADATION IN A CONTAMINATED SOIL FROM A SOUR NATURAL GAS PLANT AND IN A PRISTINE SOIL

摘要

Natural gas in western Canada can contain up to 35/100 H_2S_. The Sulfinol process for sour gas treatment makes use of sulfolane and an amine to remove H_2S and other sour components from natural gas. Sulfolane has leached into groundwaters at sour gas treatment plant sites, and poses a risk for off-site contamination. Sulfolane biodegradation was monitored in shake-flask cultures and air-sparged microcosms infoculated with uncontaminated topsoil or with sulfolane- contaminated soil obtained near a Sulfinol process building at a sour gas treatment facility in western Canada.