Biodegradation of chlorinated hydrocarbons in an immobilized bed reactor

摘要

AbstractA 75 liter immobilized microbe biological reactor with a bed retention time of 20.5 hours was used in a continuous flow mode to remediate contaminated groundwater containing ethylene dichloride (EDC), tetrachloroethylene, and trichloroethylene, with EDC being the predominant contaminant. The reactor was initially seeded with Xanthobacter autotrophicus, a demonstrated halogenated aliphatic substrate utilizer. The reactor was operated for forty‐two days. Material balance determinations for primary volatile aliphatics of concern indicated an average of 90.2 mineralization of EDC, 81.7 of the trichlorethylene (TCE) and 64.0 of the tetrachlorethylene (TeCE). In addition to Xanthobacter autotrophicus, four indigenous bacterial species from the groundwater had successfully acclimated to the reactor be