In situ accelerated anaerobic biodegradation of a chlorinated source area

In situ accelerated anaerobic biodegradation (AAB) is being successfully employed to treat chlorinated solvents that were historically released into soil and groundwater beneath Building 719, a mission-critical maintenance facility at Dover Air Force Base, DE. Contaminants are attributed to engine cleaning activities conducted in the building and include trichloroethylene (TCE), 1,1,1-trichloroethane, and their degradation products. The AAB system was installed to remediate contaminated groundwater in the source area and minimize the continued contribution to the dissolved plume extending approximately one mile downgradient. Anaerobic degradation occurred locally in the source area. Stoichiometric degradation of TCE to ethylene in the deep portion of the reactive zone provided evidence that complete reductive dechlorination occurred. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 8th International In Situ and On-Site Bioremediation Symposium (Baltimore, MD 6/6-9/2005).