• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.125-131
• /
• 2009

Reductive dechlorination of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and its toxicity change were predicted by the linear free energy relationship (LFER) model to assess the zero-valent iron (ZVI) and anaerobic dechlorinating bacteria (ADB) as electron donors in PCDDs dechlorination. Reductive dechlorination of PCDDs involves 256 reactions linking 76 congeners with highly variable toxicities, so is challenging to assess the overall effect of this process on the environmental impact of PCDD contamination. The Gibbs free energies of PCDDs in aqueous solution were updated to density functional theory (DFT) calculation level from thermodynamic results of literatures. All of dechlorination kinetics of PCDDs was evaluated from the linear correlation between the experimental dechlorination kinetics of PCDDs and the calculated thermodynamics of PCDDs. As a result, it was predicted that over 100 years would be taken for the complete dechlorination of octachlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin (OCDD) to non-chlorinated compound (dibenzo-p-dioxin, DD), and the toxic equivalent quantity (TEQ) of PCDDs could increase to 10 times larger from initial TEQ with the dechlorination process. The results imply that the single reductive dechlorination using ZVI or ADB is not suitable for the treatment strategy of PCDDs contaminated soil, sediment and fly ash. This LFER approach is applicable for the prediction of dechlorination process for organohalogen compounds and for the assessment of electron donating system for treatment strategies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.635-641
• /
• 2005

Batch experiments were performed to evaluate the effect of sulfate reduction on methane production and reductive dechlorination, both compete for hydrogen with sulfate reduction. Dechlorination was inhibited by sulfate reduction at lower hydrogen concentration because their threshold values for hydrogen are similar (2 nM). Unlike methane production mainly inhibited transformation of cDCE to ethene, sulfate reduction inhibited the initial dechlorination step, PCE reduction into cDCE as well as cDCE dechlorination. The presence of sulfate eliminated methanogens as hydrogen competitor because of its high threshold value of 10 nM. When sulfate coexisted with PCE, dechlorination efficiency was not affected by the increase of seed concentration as both dechlorination and sulfate reduction were stimulated simultaneously by the increased seeding culture.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2003.09a
• /
• pp.391-394
• /
• 2003

The applicability of in situ microbial filter or biobarrier technology for the remediation of soil and groundwater contaminated with chlorinated solvents was investigated. The efficiency and rates of reductive dechlorination of chlorinated solvents are known to be highly dependent on hydrogen concentration. In this study, the effect of electron donors on the reductive dechlorination of PCE was investigated using vermicompost (worm casting) and peat as permeable reactive barrier medium The effect of organic acids (lactate, butyrate and benzoate), yeast extract and vitamin $B_{l2}$ on the reductive dechlorination was investigated. Compared to the control (no electron donor added), addition of electron donors stimulated the dechlorinated rate. Among the electron donor treatments, lactate/benzoate amendment exhibited the highest dechlorination rate. Since vermicompost and peat are inexpensive and biodegradable and have high sorption capacity, they could be successfully used as biobarrier media, especially when electron donors (for example, lactate/benzoate) are added.d.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2000.11a
• /
• pp.119-123
• /
• 2000

In-situ treatment technologies have been proposed to transform or remove pollutants from contaminated groundwater. Zero-valent iron(Fe$^{0}$ ), metallic iron, is being evaluated as a permeable reactive material to retard the transport of wide array of highly mobile contaminants in groundwater. In this research, tetrachloroethylene(PCE) dechlorination by powdered zero-valent iron in buffered aqueous solution was studied with and without the presence of surfactants. The rate of dechlorination of PCE by zero-valent iron with surfactant was much higher than without surfactant. The presence of surfactant increased the apparent rate of dechlorination because the surfactants influenced the dissolution of PCE into the aqueous phase.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2003.09a
• /
• pp.136-139
• /
• 2003

The combined effect of bioaugmentation of dechlorinating bacterial cultures and addition of iron powder (Fe$^{0}$ ) on reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and other chlorinated ethylenes in a artificially contaminated soil slurry (60$\mu$mo1es PCE/kg soil) were tested. Two different anaerobic bacterial cultures, a pure bacterial culture of Desulfitobacterium sp. strain Y-51 capable of dechlorinating PCE to cis-1, 2-dechloroethylene (cis-DCE) and the other enrichment culture PE-1 capable of dechlorinating PCE completely to ethylene, were used for the bioaugmentation test. Both treatments introduced with the strain Y-51 and PE-1 culture (3mg dry cell weight/kg soil) showed conversion of PCE to cis-DCE within 40 days. The treatments added with Fe$^{0}$ (0.1 -1.0 %(w/w)) alone to the soil slurry resulted in extended PCE dechlorination to ethylene and ethane and the, dechlorination rate depended on the amount of Fe$^{0}$ added. The combined use of the bacterial cultures with Fe$^{0}$ (0.1-1.0%) showed the higher PCE dechlorination rate than the separated application and the pattern of PCE dechlorination and end-product formation was different from those of the separated application. These results suggested that the combined application of Fe$^{0}$ and the bactrial culture, specially the complete dechlorinating enrichment culture such as PE-1 culture, would be practically effective for remediation of PCE contaminated soil.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.16 no.10
• /
• pp.1147-1155
• /
• 2007

The applicability of in situ biobarrier or microbial filter technology for the remediation of groundwater contaminated with chlorinated solvent was investigated through column study. In this study, the effect of packing materials on the reductive dechlorination of PCE was investigated using Canadian peat, Pahokee peat, peat moss and vermicompost (or worm casting) as a biobarrier medium. Optimal conditions previously determined from a batch microcosm study was applied in this column study. Lactate/benzoate was amended as electron donors to stimulate reductive dechlorination of PCE. Hydraulic conductivity was approximately $6{\times}10^{-5}-8{\times}10^{-5}\;cm/sec$ and no difference was found among the packing materials. The transport and dispersion coefficients determined from the curve-fitting of the breakthrough curves of $Br^-$ using CXTFIT 2.1 showed no difference between single-region and two-region models. The reductive dechlorination of PCE was efficiently occurred in all columns. Among the columns, especially the column packed with vermicompost exhibited the highest reductive dechlorination efficiency. The results of this study showed the promising potential of in situ biobarrier technology using peat and vermicompost for the remediation of groundwater contaminated with chlorinated solvents.

• Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.41 no.3
• /
• pp.189-195
• /
• 2003

To enhance the reductive dechlorination of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) under anaerobic conditions, we examined the adjunctive effects of cobalt (Co) and nickel (Ni), which are the central metals of transition-metal cofactors of coenzyme F$\_$430/ and vitamin B$\_$12/, respectively, on the dechlorination of Aroclor 1248. After 32 weeks of incubation, the average numbers of chlorines per biphenyl in culture vials supplemented with 0.2, 0.5, and 1.0 mM of Co reduced from 3.88 to 3.39, 2.92, and 3.28, respectively. However, the numbers of chlorine after supplementing with Ni decreased from 3.88 to 3.43, regardless of the Ni concentrations. The observed congener distribution patterns of all vials with different conditions were similar to the pattern produced by the dechlorination process of H' after 21 weeks of incubation, and these patterns were unchanged up to week 32, except for vials supplemented with 0.5 and 1.0 mM of Co. In vials containing 0.5 mM of Co, meta-rich congeners, such as 25/ 25-,24/25-, and 25/23-chlorobiphenyls (CBPs), which were found as accumulated products of dechlorination in other conditions, were further dechlorinated, and 25/2-, 24/2-, and 2/2-CBPs were concomitantly increased after 32 weeks of incubation. In this case, the congener distribution was similar to the dechlorination pattern of process M. From these results, we suggested that the enrichment of cultures with Co might stimulate the growth of specific populations of meta-dechlorinators, and that populations might promote a change in the dechlorination process from H' to M, which is known to be less effective on the dechlorination of the more highly chlorinated congeners of PCBs.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.22-37
• /
• 2006

The applicability of biobarrier or in situ microbial filter technology for the remediation of groundwater contaminated with chlorinated solvent was investigated through batch microcosm study. The efficiency and rates of reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethylene (PCE) are known to be highly dependent on hydrogen concentration. In this study, the effect of electron donors on the reductive dechlorination of PCE was investigated using vermicompost (or worm casting) and peat as a biobarrier medium. The effect of organic acids (lactate, butyrate and benzoate), yeast extract and vitamin $B_{12}$ on the reductive dechlorination was investigated. In the absence of biobarrier medium (adsorbent), addition of electron donors stimulated the dechlorination rate of PCE compared to the control experiment (i.e., no electron donor added). Among the treatments, addition of lactate or lactate/benzoate as hydrogen donor exhibited the highest dechlorination rate ($k_1=0.0260{\sim}0.0266\;day^{-1}$). In case of using vermicompost as a biobarrier medium, amendment of lactate/benzoate exhibited the highest dechlorination rate following with a pseudo-first-order degradation rate constant of $k_1=0.0849\;day^{-1}$. In contrast, when Pahokee peat was used as a biobarrier medium, either butyrate or lactate addition exhibited the highest dechlorination rate with $k_1$ values of 0.1092 and $0.1067\;day^{-1}$, respectively. The results of this study showed the potential applicability of in situ biobarrier technology using vermicompost or peat as a barrier material for the remediation of groundwater contaminated with chlorinated solvent.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.16 no.11
• /
• pp.1734-1739
• /
• 2006

The degradation of perchloroethylene (PCE) was investigated with the serial treatment of biological reaction after dechlorination using Fenton's reagent. The dechlorination of PCE was expressed using $D_m$ (dechlorination value), calculated from ${\Delta}Cl^-mol/{\Delta}PCE$ mol, and was 2.58 with 5 mM of $H_2O_2$ and $Fe^{3+}$. The $150{\mu}M$ of PCE was transformed to $37{\mu}M$ of dichloroacetic acid (DCAA). Biological treatment with Delftia sp. N6 was applied after degradation of PCE by the Fenton reaction. The optical densities indicating cell growth were 0.53/0.10 with/without the Fenton reaction after one day, respectively. The N6 strain degraded 95% of the DCAA produced from PCE by the Fenton reaction within one day. Consequently, it seemed that the serial treatment of a Fenton reaction and biological reaction was effective in the removal of not only PCE, but also DCAA, one of the major metabolites of PCE.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.173-177
• /
• 2006

Pesticides from diffuse pollution sources adsorbed in suspended particles flow into surface water and threats to the public health. In this research, dechlorination constants of Atrazine by zero valent iron were measured with addition of buffer solution for simulating buffer capacity of sediment. When initial concentration of Atrazine was 10, 30, and 50 mg/L, their dechlorination was explained using the pseudo-first order reaction. Dechlorination constants $K_{obs}$ were $3.21{\times}10^{-2}/d$ in average.