1. ERDC Knowledge Core
2. Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)
3. Environmental Laboratory (EL) - (4/16/1978 - present)
4. Technical Report

Title:	Rapid development of microbial strains for bioremediation of military soils and dredged materials contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Authors:	Gunnison, Douglas. Zappi, Mark E. Marcev, John R.
Keywords:	Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons--Biodegradation In situ bioremediation Dredging spoil--Environmental aspects Soil pollution
Publisher:	Environmental Laboratory (U.S.) U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station.
Series/Report no.:	Technical Report;EL-93-18
Abstract:	A study was undertaken to rapidly obtain native microorganisms or consortia (groups of microorganisms acting together to remove a contaminant or groups of contaminants) with the ability to degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds (PAHs) in soils and sediments subject to aerobic biological treatment. A screening test was developed to select those microorganisms active against the broadest spectrum of priority PAHs (those PAHs present in highest concentration). Particular emphasis was also placed on selecting those microorganisms able to degrade PAH compounds normally resistant to biological treatment (pyrene, for example). Selected microorganisms were further examined to determine requirements for organic nutrients in addition to specific PAH(s) and to assess their ability to mineralize representative priority PAHs. Based on the results of this work, a single microorganism was selected for use in a bioslurry testing. In this procedure, the selected microorganism was grown up in large quantity and added back to the soil of origin as part of a biotreatment process. When added to previously sterilized soil slurry, the selected microorganism demonstrated significant removal of two of the four priority PAHs and slight removal of the remaining compounds in a 4-week period. When this microorganism was used in a soil slurry in combination with the native soil microbial populations, the levels of all four priority PAHs decreased significantly in the 4-week treatment period. The selected microorganism in the sterile soil treatment removed 64.5 percent of the total residual petroleum hydrocarbons (TRPHs). The selected microorganism and native microorganisms together were able to remove 78.5 percent of the TRPHs. Thus, use of native microorganisms improved TRPH removal only 13.9 percent over the level achieved with the selected microorganism alone. The results of this work indicate that use of microorganisms selected for their ability to degrade P AHs from a native microbial population can enhance PAH degradation over use of native microorganisms only.
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/11681/26360
Appears in Collections:	Technical Report