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Importance of Reductive Dechlorination in Chesapeake Bay Sediments Role of Sulfate Respiration

EPA Grant Number: R822444
Title: Importance of Reductive Dechlorination in Chesapeake Bay Sediments Role of Sulfate Respiration
Investigators: Capone, Douglas G. , Baker, Joel E. , Gilmour, Cynthia C.
Institution: University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science , BERL/Academy of Natural Sciences
Current Institution: University of Maryland
EPA Project Officer: Levinson, Barbara
Project Period: October 1, 1995 through September 1, 1998
Project Amount: $286,703
RFA: Exploratory Research - Chemistry and Physics of Water (1995)
Research Category: Engineering and Environmental Chemistry

Description:

It is hypothesized that alternating redox conditions of Chesapeake Bay sediments would enhance the ultimate degradation of chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons (CAHs) by estuarine sulfate respiring bacteria (SRB). The primary goal of this project is to explore more thoroughly the capacity of the microbial flora of estuarine sediments, in particular SRB, to reductively dechlorinate CAHs.

Using a model chlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, the effect of sulfate and added electron donors on the acclimation period preceding reductive dechlorination will be characterized and an attempt to determine if an inducible protein is responsible for this activity will be undertaken. SRB isolates from the Chesapeake Bay will be screened for their ability to reductively dechlorinate CAHs. Environmental and chemical parameters relevant to CAH transformations and reductive dechlorination observed in this study are being related to the more extensive suite of parameters collected in long term studies of benthic biogeochemical processes and CAH distributions along the salinity gradient of the Chesapeake Bay.

Results from this project should identify a potentially important fate for CAHs in estuarine sediments, add to our base of knowledge concerning the diversity of SRB in nature and their importance in estuarine and marine ecosystems, and determine the environmental factors which affect dechlorination rates, thereby providing a basis for in situ bioremediation of heavily contaminated sites.

Publications and Presentations:

Publications have been submitted on this project: View all 6 publications for this project

Supplemental Keywords:

water, sediments, sulfates, dechlorination, environmental chemistry, Chesapeake Bay. , Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Toxics, Water, Geographic Area, Scientific Discipline, Waste, RFA, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, Engineering, Chemistry, & Physics, HAPS, Physics, Chemistry, Mid-Atlantic, Environmental Chemistry, Ecological Effects - Environmental Exposure & Risk, Contaminated Sediments, Bioremediation, marine ecosystem, aquatic ecosystem, ecosystem response , estuarine sediment, biodegradation, ecological response, microbial degradation, Chesapeake Bay watershed, chemical transport, hydrocarbon, sediment toxicity, alternative redox conditions, chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons, anaerobic biodegradability, reductive dehalogenation, sulfate respiring bacteria, contaminated sediment, Chesapeake Bay, in-situ bioremediation, bioremediation model, ecological exposure, environmental technology, contaminants in soil, bioremediation of soils, benthic process, electron donors, reductive dechlorination, estuarine ecosystems, Sulfate, inducible protein, sediment, sediments, dechlorination, contaminated sites, microbial flora

Progress and Final Reports:
Final Report

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The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.

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