Bacterial diversity and activity throughout the aquifer hydrogeology insinuate interactions and variability meditated by nature, be that influenced by man or compounded naturally.
One advantage I can think of is that in general an aquifer will have a lot of anaerobic sites for microbiota. So the natural environment tends to be anaerobic, and hence you could expect faster degradattion/bioremediation if you could provide anaerobic technologies. However, this is not easy, as a lot of these redox processes require higher redox potentials (= aerobic environment) at some steps, and an anaerobic environment can be considered a good preservation site for many organic pollutants.
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt) from which groundwater can be extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology. Related terms include aquitard, which is a bed of low permeability along an aquifer,and aquiclude (or aquifuge), which is a solid, impermeable area underlying or overlying an aquifer. If the impermeable area overlies the aquifer pressure could cause it to become a confined aquifer.
A procedure for the design of an aerobic cometabolic process for the on-site degradation of chlorinated solvents in a packed bed reactor was developed using groundwater from an aquifer contaminated by trichloroethylene (TCE) and 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane (TeCA). The work led to the selection of butane among five tested growth substrates, and to the development and characterization from the site’s indigenous biomass of a suspended-cell consortium capable to degrade TCE (first order constant: 96 L g protein –1 day–1 at 30 °C and 4.3 L g protein –1 day–1 at 15 °C) with a 90 % mineralization of the organic chlorine. The consortium immobilization had strong effects on the butane and TCE degradation rates. The microbial community structure was slightly changed by a temperature shift from 30 to 15 °C, but remarkably affected by biomass adhesion. Given the higher TCE normalized degradation rate (0.59 day–1 at 15 °C) and attached biomass concentration (0.13 gprotein L bioreactor –1 at 15 °C) attained, the porous ceramic carrier Biomax was selected as the best option for the packed bed reactor process. The low TeCA degradation rate exhibited by the developed consortium suggested the inclusion of a chemical pre-treatment based on the TeCA to TCE conversion via β-elimination, a very fast reaction at alkaline pH. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this represents the first attempt to develop a procedure for the development of a packed bed reactor process for the aerobic cometabolism of chlorinated solvents.
I think this question is interesting for in situ bioremediating the contaminated groundwater. To my knowledge in the area of As treatment from groundwater, indigenous anearobic bacteria can oxide the prevailing As(III) to As(V) using NO3- instead of O2 . This process is helpful for As remediation as As(V) could be easier to be adsorbed by mineral than As(III). Thus I think anearobic technologies can be directly employed in in situ As treatment, such as injecting NO3- and minerals into the aquifer.
Yes, indeed anaerobic treatment is an important option. As is a rather important pollutant. To my knowledge however very few people look at the combination of As dissolution and anaerobic/low redox conditions. Even at managed recharge, there are hardly any studies on the effect of the oxic water infiltration on As release.
Enhanced anaerobic biodegradation is the practice of adding hydrogen (an electron donor) to groundwater and/or soil to increase the number and vitality of indigenous microorganisms performing anaerobic bioremediation (reductive dechlorination) on any anaerobically degradable compound or chlorinated contaminant