150-Simulation of Aerobic and Anaerobic Biodegradation Process for Contaminated Aquifers.

Abstract

The high cost and poor performance of many groundwater remedial systems have led researchers to consider the natural aerobic and anaerobic biodegradation process as an alternative technique for effective groundwater remediation. In this study, bioremediation is simulated using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) developed software BIOPLUME III. The model simulates the biodegradation of organic contaminants for an aerobic and an anaerobic electron acceptor including oxygen and nitrate. The sensitivity of contaminant concentration due to various hydrogeological parameters such as hydraulic conductivity, longitudinal dispersivity, transverse dispersivity and retardation factor is investigated for a hypothetical aquifer system. The study suggests that hydraulic conductivity is the most significant parameter amongst the parameters considered and hence aquifers with higher permeabilities are more amenable to bioremediation. It is also observed that anaerobic biodegradation accounts for a major part of an overall contaminant reduction due to the biodegradation process.