Highlighting Min-Traps: Revolutionizing Monitoring to Document Abiotic Degradation
The Min-Trap® sampler passively collects direct mineralogical data using existing monitoring wells. Many in-situ groundwater treatment technologies for chlorinated solvents, as well as many metals and other contaminants, rely upon the formation, dissolution, and/or transformation of target solid-phase minerals either to sequester or degrade groundwater contaminants. However, evaluation of these solid phase minerals and processes is often only inferred from aqueous phase conditions (i.e., groundwater sampling) because of the significant challenges and costs associated with the collection of solid phase samples.
Key Benefits of Min-Traps®
Min-Traps® solve many challenges inherent to the evaluation of mineral formation and transformation processes by:
- Producing direct feedback from the subsurface regarding the formation, characteristics, and activity of target reactive minerals.
- Eliminating the costs, time, data quality, and health and safety risks associated with drilling for solid samples.
- Providing a technical basis to support estimates of mineral stability and/or long-term reactivity and implications for transition from active to passive treatment.
- Confirming the ongoing effectiveness of active in situ remediation, passive treatment, and long-term monitoring programs.
Analytical Options
Post-deployment analyses can be tailored to the processes of interest. Commonly performed analyses include :
- Microscopy methods (e.g., SEM/ESDS) to visually identify target minerals and provide information on particle size, shape, and surface area.
- Aqueous and Mineralogical Intrinsic Bioremediation Assessment (AMIBA) to quantify iron and sulfur availability in different redox states.
- Molecular biological tools such as QuantArray®-BGC to quantify microbial groups and functional genes associated with biogeochemical processes of interest, including sulfate reduction, iron oxidation, and anaerobic acetylene biodegradation.
- Magnetic Susceptibility to estimate the quantity of magnetite, which can mediate the abiotic degradation of chlorinated ethenes and carbon tetrachloride.
Min-Trap® Applications
The Min-Trap® sampler is applicable to a wide variety of contaminants and treatment approaches. Examples of the questions Min-Traps® can be used to answer include:
- Are reactive iron minerals formed for combined biotic/abiotic degradation of chlorinated solvents?
- Will metals like arsenic co-precipitate or adsorb iron oxides during in situ chemical oxidation?
- Are metal sulfides formed during in situ chemical reduction at Cr(VI) sites?
- Will pH neutralization increase solid phase minerals?
Conclusion
Microbial Insights’ Min-Trap® is a cost-effective monitoring tool for passively collecting direct mineralogical data to help manage many in-situ remediation programs. The Min-Trap® solves many challenges inherent to the evaluation of mineral formation and transformation processes of interest for a variety of remedial approaches. By documenting the formation of reactive iron minerals, Min-Trap® data can be used to optimize remediation decisions, enhance remedy performance, and accelerate the transition to passive remediation phases.
Learn more at https://microbe.com/min-trap-sampler/ and contact us today to discover how Min-Trap® can help optimize your remediation efforts.
