Remediation Case Studies Bioremediation

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was introduced on December 2, 1970 by President Richard Nixon. The agency is charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. The EPA's struggle to protect health and the environment is seen through each of its official publications. These publications outline new policies, detail problems with enforcing laws, document the need for new legislation, and describe new tactics to use to solve these issues. This collection of publications ranges from historic documents to reports released in the new millennium, and features works like: Bicycle for a Better Environment, Health Effects of Increasing Sulfur Oxides Emissions Draft, and Women and Environmental Health.

This report is a collection of abstracts summarizing 10 new FRTR cost and performance case studies documenting the results and lessons learned from site remediation technology applications. The abstracts are organized by technology, and include several different technologies for treating soil or groundwater contamination or acid rock drainage, with 3 reports addressing soil cleanup, 4 reports focusing on groundwater and 3 reports focusing on treating acid rock drainage. This document also includes a table (Appendix A) identifying the specific sites, technologies, contaminants, media, and year published for the 393 case studies in the FRTR database.

Biological processes to treat contaminated land (bioremediation) have had widespread use in North America, several countries in mainland Europe, and in the UK. The general technical consensus is that remediation (biological or otherwise) should usually take place in a risk management context to break pollutant linkages. Risk assessment is the defining discipline for this management approach. Conventional approaches to risk assessment are based on evaluations of contaminant toxicity and exposure to organisms (a function of bioavailability). The evaluations are informed by conceptual site models developed using site investigation data. Typically estimations of toxicity and bioavailability are generic in nature, based on overall assumptions, which have to be rather conservative in order to provide an acceptable level of protection for all types of site and contamination problems. Biological techniques have begun to be used as tools to provide site specific estimates of bioavailability and ecotoxicity, for use in risk assessment. There is great interest in developing these biological test methods further as they are seen as potentially offering a more direct appraisal of risks. Bioremediation techniques include monitored natural attenuation (MNA), biosparging, groundwater recirculation, landfarming, biopiles, bioreactors, phytoremediation, treatment beds and windrows. This report includes a series of case studies showing that bioremediation can cost-effectively treat a range of contaminants under redevelopment, transaction or proactive risk management scenario. The case studies selected are representative of many of the technologies in commercial use in the UK. Contents: Part A Overview, 1 Introduction, Part B Bioremediation, 2 Introduction, 3 Case studies, 4 Factors to consider in the selection and implementation of bioremediation technologies on contaminated sites, 5 Conclusions, Part C Biological test methods, 6 Overview, 7 Case studies, 8 Factors to consider in the selection and use of biological test methods to asses ecological risk on contaminated sites, 9 Conclusions, References, Appendix A Contacts, Appendix B Biological test methods.

Prepared by the Environmental Technology Evaluation Center (EvTEC) and the Highway Innovative Technology Evaluation Center (HITEC), CERF Service Centers. This report provides an update on technology and is intended to assist the Federal Highway Administration's Priority Technology Program (PTP) and departments of transportation in all 50 states. It identifies barriers that hinder the widespread use of bioremediation in the highway environment, as well as methods to overcome these barriers. The evaluation is based on design, construction, performance, and quality assurance information outlined in the HITEC and EvTEC Protocols. The three case studies examine PTP projects in Alabama, Indiana, and Mississippi.

Microbial Biodegradation and Bioremediation brings together experts in relevant fields to describe the successful application of microbes and their derivatives for bioremediation of potentially toxic and relatively novel compounds. This single-source reference encompasses all categories of pollutants and their applications in a convenient, comprehensive package. Our natural biodiversity and environment is in danger due to the release of continuously emerging potential pollutants by anthropogenic activities. Though many attempts have been made to eradicate and remediate these noxious elements, every day thousands of xenobiotics of relatively new entities emerge, thus worsening the situation. Primitive microorganisms are highly adaptable to toxic environments, and can reduce the load of toxic elements by their successful transformation and remediation. Describes many novel approaches of microbial bioremediation including genetic engineering, metagenomics, microbial fuel cell technology, biosurfactants and biofilm-based bioremediation Introduces relatively new hazardous elements and their bioremediation practices including oil spills, military waste water, greenhouse gases, polythene wastes, and more Provides the most advanced techniques in the field of bioremediation, including insilico approach, microbes as pollution indicators, use of bioreactors, techniques of pollution monitoring, and more