AROMATIC POLLUTANT BIODEGRADATION IN SEDIMENTS

ABSTRACT: Recent studies in our laboratory and others have demonstrated conclusively that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other unsubstituted aromatics are biodegradable under anaerobic conditions. This important result suggests that PAH contamination in anaerobic environments (such as sediments) may be more amenable to biological treatment than once thought. In previous work, we postulated that the availability of anaerobic electron acceptors limits degradation of aromatic pollutants in sediment systems and that amendment with anaerobic electron acceptors could be exploited to remediate contaminated sediments. We termed this the Anaerobic Electron Acceptor Amendment (AEAA) process. This research consisted of two phases: Phase 1 was to quantify nitrate and sulfate reduction rates for test sediments from the study sites. These experiments consisted of incubations with test sediments amended with varying levels of nitrate or sulfate and incubated under field temperatures. In Phase 2 we amended sediment from the field sites with nitrate or sulfate and incubated them in the field over time to assess electron acceptor