Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2006DE71B

Enhanced Pollutant Biodegradation by Electrode Use

Institute: Delaware
Year Established: 2006 Start Date: 2006-06-01 End Date: 2007-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $1,750 Total Non-Federal Funds: $3,500

Principal Investigators: Steven Dentel

Project Summary: In some environmental situations, biodegradable organic substances remain at high concentrations over long periods of time, because there is a shortage of the oxygen required to permit microbial oxidation to occur. Some examples are (1) the sediments that underlie natural waters; (2) wastewaters or sludges in treatment facilities; (3) contaminated groundwaters; and (4) landfill contents and the landfill leachate. In these types of situations, the rate and extent of biodegradation could be accelerated to remove pollutants if the oxygen limitation could be circumvented. This project will investigate the use of graphite electrodes to alleviate the oxygen limitation to biodegradation of organic contaminants while simultaneously generating electrical energy. Specific factors that will be assessed include the effects of the type and concentration of the biodegradable organic substance, temperature, and salinity of the systems of interest.