• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.52-58
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• 2005

In Korea, little attention has been paid to microbial perchloroethylene (PCE) and/or trichloroethylene (TCE) dechlorination activity and identification of microorganisms involved in PCE reductive dechlorination at a PCE-contaminated aquifer. We performed microcosm tests using the groundwater samples from 4 different contaminated sites (i.e. Changwon A, Changwon B, Bucheon and Yangsan) to assess PCE reductive dechlorination activity. We also adapted molecular techniques to screen what types of known reductive dechlorinators are present at the PCE-contaminated aquifers. In the Changwon A and Changwon B active microcosms where potential electron donors such as sodium propionate, sodium lactate, sodium butyrate, and sodium fumarate, were added, ethylene, an end-product of complete reductive dechlorination of PCE, was detected after a period of 90 days of incubation. In the Bucheon and Yangsan active microcosms, cis-1,2-dichloroethylene (c-DCE) was accumulated without the production of vinyl chloride (VC) and ethylene. Molecular techniques were used to evaluate the microbial community structures in the Changwon B and Yangsan aquifer. We found two sequence types that were closely related to a known PCE to ethylene dechlorinator, named uncultured bacterium clone DCE47, in the Changwon B site clone library. However, in the Yangsan site clone library, no sequence type was closely related to known PCE dechlorinators reported. It is plausible that microorganisms being capable of completely dechlorinating PCE to ethylene may be present in the Changwon B site aquifer. In this study we find that complete PCE reductive dechlorinators are present at some PCE-contaminated sites in Korea. In an engineering point of view this information makes it feasible to apply a biological reductive dechlorination process for remediating PCE- and/or TCE-contaminated aquifers in Korea.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.68-76
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• 2006

Anaerobic reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethylene (PCE) to ethylene was investigated by performing laboratory experiments using semi-continuous flow two-in-series soil columns. The columns were packed with soils obtained from TCE-contaminated site in Korea. Site ground water containing lactate (as electron donor and/or carbon source) and PCE was pumped into the soil columns. During the first operation with a period of 50 days, injected mass ratio of lactate and PCE was 620:1 and incomplete reductive dechlorination of PCE to cis-DCE was observed in the columns. However, complete dechlorination of PCE to ethylene was observed when the mass ratio increased to 5,050:1 in the second operation, suggesting that the electron donor might be limited during the first operation period. Dechlorination rate of PCE to cis-DCE was $0.62{\sim}1.94\;{\mu}mol$ PCE/L pore volume/d and $2.76\;{\mu}mol$ cis-DCE/ L pore volume/d for that for cis-DCE to ethylene, resulting that net dechlorination rate in the system was 1.43 umol PCE/L pore volume/d. During the degradation of cis-DCE to ethylene, the concentration of hydrogen in column groundwater was $22{\sim}29\;mM$ and $10{\sim}64\;mM$ for the degradation of PCE to cis-DCE. These positive results indicate that the TCE-contaminated groundwater investigated in this study could be remediated through in-situ biological anaerobic reductive dechlorination processes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.549-556
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• 2009

In situ chemical oxidations (ISCO) are technologies for destruction of many contaminants in soil and groundwater, and persulfate has been recently studied as an alternative ISCO oxidant. Trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE) were chosen for target organic compounds. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the influence of initial pH (3, 6, 9, 12), oxidant concentrations (0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 M), and contaminants concentrations (10, 30, 50, 70, 100 mg/L) on TCE/PCE degradation by persulfate oxidation. The maximum TCE/PCE degradation occurred at pH 3, and the removal efficiencies with this pH condition were 93.2 and 89.3%, respectively. The minimum TCE/PCE degradation occurred at pH 12, and the removal efficiencies were 55.0 and 31.2%, respectively. This indicated that degradation of TCE/PCE decreased with increasing the initial pH of solution. Degradation of TCE/PCE increased with increasing the concentration of persulfate and with decreasing the concentration of contaminants (TCE/PCE). The optimum conditions for TCE/PCE degradation were pH 3, 0.5 M of persulfate solution, and 10 mg/L of contaminant concentration. At these conditions, the first-order rate constants ($k_{obs}$) for TCE and PCE were 1.04 and 1.31 $h^{-1}$, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.131-134
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• 2005

Anaerobic reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethylene(PCE) to ethylene was investigated by performing laboratory experiments using semi-continuous flow two-in-series soil columns. The columns were packed with soils obtained from TCE-contaminated site in Korea. Site ground water containing lactate(as electron donor and/or carbon source) and PCE was pumped into the soil columns. During the first operation with a period of 50 days, injected mass ratio of lactate and PCE was 620:1 and incomplete reductive dechlorination of PCE to cis-DCE was observed in the columns. However, complete dechlorination of PCE to ethylene was observed when the mass ratio increased to 5,050:1 in the second operation, suggesting that the electron donor might be limited during the first operation period. During the degradation of cis-DCE to ethylene, the concentration of hydrogen was $22{\sim}29mM$. These positive results indicate that the TCE-contaminated groundwater investigated in this study could be remediated through biological anaerobic reductive dechlorination processes.