Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2004NJ68B

Dechlorination of Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-Dioxins and Dibenzofurans by Dehalorespiring Bacterial Cultures

Institute: New Jersey
Year Established: 2004 Start Date: 2004-03-01 End Date: 2005-03-01
Total Federal Funds: $5,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $10,799

Principal Investigators: Fang Liu, Donna E. Fennell

Abstract: Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds (DLCs) are a group of planar chemicals some of which are very toxic to human beings and other organisms, and include 2,3,7,8-substituted polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and certain co-planar polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Dioxin contamination is especially a severe environmental problem in New Jersey, with the Passaic River on EPAs list of contaminated watersheds because of its dioxin contamination particularly related to a Superfund site. In situ bioremediation has unique strong points compared with other remedies, in preventing the secondary contamination that may occur during the sediment dredging and disposal process, as well as being a more economical and quieter strategy in terms of energy cost and public concerns. Indigenous bacteria from Passaic River contaminated sediments have adapted to the dioxin-laden environment so they have the ability to dechlorinate dioxins. Bioaugmentation with Dehalococcoides ethenogenes strain 195 will enhance the dechlorination rate. This research will conduct experiments to test kinetic parameters of Dehalococcoides ethenogenes strain 195, its consortia and other isolated dechlorinating cultures using environmentally relevant DLC congeners and use acquired data to modify the kinetic model to simulate the process. It will combine different molecular tools to examine microbial community changes with respect to time and various amendments and identify the phylogenetic position of indigenous bacteria from contaminated sites and compare them with the known species to form a more comprehensive picture of the nature of biological dechlorination. This study will provide basic information of the ability and efficiency of dechlorination carried by bacteria in Passaic River sediments and data obtained here will be used to build the kinetic model for long term, environmental simulations.