In situbioremediation of trichloroethylene-contaminated water by a resting-cell methanotrophic microbial filter

Abstract

An in situ microbial filter technology is being tested and developed for remediating migrating subsurface plumes contaminated with low concentrations of trichloroethylene (TCE). The current focus is the establishment of a replenishable bioactive zone (catalytic filter) along expanding plume boundaries by the injection of a representative methanotrophic bacterium, Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b. This microbial filter strategy has been successfully demonstrated using emplaced, attached resting cells (no methane additions) in a 1.1 m flow-through test bed loaded with water-saturated sand. Two separate 24 h pulses of TCE (109 ppb and 85 ppb), one week apart, were pumped through the system at a flow velocity of 15 mm h⁻¹; no TCE (< 0.5 ppb) was detected on the downstream side of the microbial filter. Subsequent excavation of the wet sand confirmed the existence of a TCE-bioactive zone 21 days after it had been created. An enhanced longevity of the cellular, soluble-form methane monooxygenase produced by this methanotroph is a result of the laboratory bioreactor culturing conditions. Additional experiments with cells in sealed vials and emplaced in the 1.1 m test bed yielded a high resting-cell finite TCE biotransformation capacity of about 0.25 mg per mg of bacteria; this is suitable for a planned sand-filled trench field demonstration at a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory site.