Biokinetic parameter estimation for ISB of PAH-contaminated soil

In situ bioremediation (ISB) has been shown to be an effective and cost-efficient method for remediating contaminated ground water and soil. One of the major disadvantages associated with this process is the lack of available kinetic information. The viability of respirometry to determine the relevant biokinetic parameters for degradation of contaminants in groundwater has been proven; however, little work has been done using soil systems. This work investigated the applicability of using respirometer data to determine the biokinetic parameters for soil systems. The specific soil investigated was contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which contain 16 EPA priority pollutants. The work also investigated a logarithmic growth and modified Lineweaver-Burke approach for experimentally determining the maximum specific growth rate from batch degradation data. As expected, this research concluded that determining all biokinetic parameters from respirometer data was not a viable method for soil systems. Obtaining the maximum specific growth rate from batch degradation data provided more accurate results.