Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2003DE21B

Enhanced Pollutant Biodegradation by Electrode Use

Institute: Delaware
Year Established: 2003 Start Date: 2003-06-01 End Date: 2004-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $3,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $6,000

Principal Investigators: Steven Dentel

Project Summary: This project concerns environmental situations where organic substances remain over long periods of time, even though they should be biodegradable. For example, a contaminated groundwater may contain specific, contaminants that are theoretically biodegradable but remain at concentrations that may be low, but are still undesirable. Another example is in wastewater or sludges where the overall concentration of organics should be reduced before the material is land-applied or otherwise disposed of. Enhancing the rate and extent of biodegradation could thus allow pollutants in these environments to be more rapidly stabilized or removed.