Biological Decontamination of Groundwater: Remediation of Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contaminated Sediment and Groundwater
C. Marjorie Aelion, Ph.D.

We have implemented an air sparging, soil vacuum extraction and bioremediation system in Columbia, South Carolina at a former gasoline station, contaminated from leaking underground storage tanks.  The air sparging system forces air below the groundwater table to promote volatilization and aerobic degradation of the petroleum hydrocarbons. The soil vacuum extraction applies a vacuum to remove the volatilized contaminants from the vadose zone above the water table.  Used in combination, the physical and biological removal technologies complement each other, removing contamination most efficiently under different environmental conditions and at different contaminant concentrations.

One aspect of the study has been to investigate the use of simplified field monitoring tools and compare them to more sophisticated analytical laboratory tools for measuring microbial endproducts and organic contaminants.  Another has been to investigate the use of more sophisticated tools, such as radiocarbon and stable carbon isotopes, to assess the contribution of bacterial degradation to contaminant removal. 

This project is funded by the National Science Foundation.