A pilot study was conducted at a site where electron donor was injected into groundwater impacted by a mixture of chlorinated solvents.
Site managers asked two questions: “Did the electron donor injection stimulate reductive dechlorination?” and “Did injection of the electron donor also increase the potential for abiotic dechlorination through the generation of biogenic FeS?” The answers to both questions were yes. The multiple qPCR platform, QuantArray®-Chlor, showed conclusively that injection of the electron donor stimulated growth of halorespiring organisms for about two years. Next generation sequencing (NGS) indicated that the injection of the electron donor also stimulated iron reduction and sulfate reduction and, therefore, likely biogenic FeS production.
QuantArray®-Chlor and NGS provided complimentary evidence of both biotic and abiotic reductive dechlorination in response to the injection of the electron donor giving the client confidence in this remediation strategy expanding electron donor injection to the entire site.
