Bioremediation of polyaromatic hydrocarboncontaminated sediments in aerated bioslurry reactors

TY - JOUR

T1 - Bioremediation of polyaromatic hydrocarboncontaminated sediments in aerated bioslurry reactors

AU - Leunen, Loren A.

AU - Buggs, Vincent H.

AU - Eestep, Michael E.

AU - Enriquez, Rica C.

AU - Leonerd, Joseph W.

AU - Blaylock, Michael J.

AU - Huang, Jien Wei

AU - Haggblom, Max M.

N1 - Funding Information: Funding for this project was provided by the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology and the Northeast Hazardous Substance Research Center. We thank Ivan Jenkins, Dave Lear, and Joseph Florentine of the Rutgers New Jersey Agriculture Experiment Station's greenhouse staff for their assistance with the plant and greenhouse aspects of the project, and Daniel Gonzales for assistance with the preparation of the bacterial inoculum. We thank Greg Flanagan and Al Habib for technical assistance and establishment of the plant stocks. We also thank Dr. Albert Venosa of the U.S. EPA for donation of the MPN Calculator Program used, and Dr. Donna Fennell and Amy Van Hout for critical review of the manuscript.

PY - 2002

Y1 - 2002

N2 - Treatment of dredged sediments contaminated by polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is a significant problem in the New York/New Jersey (NY/NJ) Harbor. 0.5 m-scale slurry-phase bioreactors were used to determine whether bioaugmentation with a PAH-degradative bacterial consortium, or with the salt marsh grass S. alterniflora, could enhance the biodegradation of PAHs added to dredged estuarine sediments from the NY/NJ Harbor. The results were compared to biodegradation effected by the indigenous sediment microbial community. Sediments were diluted 1:1 in tap water and spiked to a final concentration of 20 rng/kg dry weight sediment of phenanthrene, anthracene, acenaphthene, fluorene, fluoranthene, and pyrene. The sediment slurry was then continuously sparged with air over 3 months. In all bioreactors a rapid reduction. of greater than 95% of the initial phenanthrene, acenaphthene, and fluorene occurred within 14 days. Pyrene and fluoranthene reductions of 70 to 90% were achieved by day 77 of treatment. Anthracene was more recalcitrant and reductions ranged from 30 to 85%. Separate experiments showed that the sediment microbial communities mineralized 14C-pyrene and 14C-phenanthrene. PAH degradation, and the number of phenanthrene-degrading bacteria, were not enhanced by microbial or plant bioaugmentation. These data demonstrate that bioaugmentation is not required to effect efficient remediation of PAR-contaminated dredged sediments in slurry-phase bioreactors.

AB - Treatment of dredged sediments contaminated by polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is a significant problem in the New York/New Jersey (NY/NJ) Harbor. 0.5 m-scale slurry-phase bioreactors were used to determine whether bioaugmentation with a PAH-degradative bacterial consortium, or with the salt marsh grass S. alterniflora, could enhance the biodegradation of PAHs added to dredged estuarine sediments from the NY/NJ Harbor. The results were compared to biodegradation effected by the indigenous sediment microbial community. Sediments were diluted 1:1 in tap water and spiked to a final concentration of 20 rng/kg dry weight sediment of phenanthrene, anthracene, acenaphthene, fluorene, fluoranthene, and pyrene. The sediment slurry was then continuously sparged with air over 3 months. In all bioreactors a rapid reduction. of greater than 95% of the initial phenanthrene, acenaphthene, and fluorene occurred within 14 days. Pyrene and fluoranthene reductions of 70 to 90% were achieved by day 77 of treatment. Anthracene was more recalcitrant and reductions ranged from 30 to 85%. Separate experiments showed that the sediment microbial communities mineralized 14C-pyrene and 14C-phenanthrene. PAH degradation, and the number of phenanthrene-degrading bacteria, were not enhanced by microbial or plant bioaugmentation. These data demonstrate that bioaugmentation is not required to effect efficient remediation of PAR-contaminated dredged sediments in slurry-phase bioreactors.

KW - Bioaugmentation

KW - Microbial community

KW - Polyaromatic hydrocarbons

KW - Sediments

KW - Slurry-phase bioreactor

KW - Spartina alterniflora

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/0036611817

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/0036611817#tab=citedBy

U2 - 10.1080/10588330208951209

DO - 10.1080/10588330208951209

M3 - Article

SN - 1088-9868

VL - 6

SP - 125

EP - 141

JO - Bioremediation Journal

JF - Bioremediation Journal

IS - 2

ER -