Cost effectiveness of in situ bioremediation at Savannah River

Conference · Fri Sep 01 04:00:00 UTC 1995

OSTI ID:104443

Saaty, R P; Showalter, W E; Booth, S R

In situ bioremediation (ISBR) is an innovative new remediation technology for the removal of chlorinated solvents from contaminated soils and groundwater. The principal contaminant at the Savannah River Integrated Demonstration is tricloroethylene (TCE) a volatile organic compound (VOC). A 384-day test run at Savannah River, sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Technology Development (EM-50), furnished information about the performance and applications of ISBR. In situ bioremediation, as tested, is based on two distinct processes occurring simultaneously; the physical process of in situ air stripping and the biological process of bioremediation. Both processes have the potential to remediate some amount of contamination. A quantity of VOCs, directly measured from the extracted airstream, was removed from the test area by the physical process of air stripping. The biological process is difficult to examine. However, the results of several tests performed at the SRID and independent numerical modeling determined that the biological process remediated an additional 40% above the physical process. Given these data, the cost effectiveness of this new technology can be evaluated.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 104443
• Report Number(s): LA-UR--95-2467; CONF-950483--6; ON: DE95016900
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
BIODEGRADATION
COST
GROUND WATER
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
REMEDIAL ACTION
SOILS
SOLVENTS
VOLATILE MATTER