Liquid-Phase Bioreactor for Degradation of Trichloroethylene and Benzene
2006
Folsom, Brian
The objective of this project was to design and operate a bench-scale biological treatment system capable of degrading trichlorethylene (TCE) and benzene, each present at concentrations up to 50 ppm, to concentrations of 4 ppb or less per contaminant. A two-stage reactor system was designed and fabricated to allow for the sequential degradation of benzene followed by TCE since TCE demonstrated no inhibitory effects on benzene degradation. A first-stage fixed- film reactor system demonstrated greater than 96% biodegradation of benzene from an artificially contaminated groundwater stream over a two month period of continuous operation. The liquid exiting the first-stage reactor was stripped to transfer the TCE and residual benzene into the air phase which was treated into a vapor phase bioreactor. The second-stage unit biodegraded greater than 90% of the TCE and greater than 90% of the residual benzene load. The two stage treatment system demonstrated the feasibility of biological treatment for a mixture of nonchlorinated and chlorinated organic contaminants in groundwater. Biodegradation, Bioreactor, Groundwater, Remediation, Trichloroethylene, Benzene.
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