Demonstrating Contaminant Degradation at an MGP Site With Metabolic Gas Flux and Radio Carbon Dating
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Sean M. Carroll; Jeffrey A. Clock; Aaron D. Peacock; Julio Zimbron; Kenneth N. Alepidis
- Source
- Remediation Journal. 27:51-64
- Subject
- 0301 basic medicine
chemistry.chemical_classification
Environmental Engineering
Sorbent
business.industry
030106 microbiology
Fossil fuel
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
Sediment
010501 environmental sciences
Contamination
01 natural sciences
Pollution
law.invention
03 medical and health sciences
Microbial population biology
chemistry
law
Environmental chemistry
Degradation (geology)
Radiocarbon dating
business
Waste Management and Disposal
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
- Language
- ISSN
- 1051-5658
Obtaining lines of evidence indicating that contamination in sediment environments is degrading and being transformed to less toxic forms is an important component of building support for a monitored natural recovery remedy for contaminated sediments. This project was a field demonstration of manufactured gas plant contaminant degradation in river sediments using metabolic gas flux and was performed in an urban area section of a river in northeastern Indiana. CO2 sorbent traps were deployed to measure CO2 flux from the river sediments. Sediment samples were collected and analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations and for microbial community composition using molecular techniques. The results showed that the deployment was successful, measuring CO2 flux at all sediment locations and demonstrating that microbial contaminant degrading activity was occurring in the sediments. Radio carbon dating showed a significant portion of the CO2 being generated (approximately 19–27 percent) was the result of fossil fuel degradation. Molecular results showed that the microbial community consisted of phylotypes known to be associated with monocyclic aromatic and PAH degradation. ©2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.