Stimulation of reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethane in anaerobic aquifer microcosms by addition of short-chain organic acids or alcohols

Although the ecological and public health risk associated with tetrachloroethene (PCE) contamination may be the most severe when spills affect groundwater, little is known about the environmental conditions necessary to initiate and sustain dehalogenation activity in contaminated aquifers. This study was done with core material collected from a site impacted by both aviation gasoline and chloroethenes at a Coast Guard Air Station at Traverse City, Michigan. The effect of the addition of common fermentation products on the dehalogenation of tetrachloroethene was studied in methanogenic slurries made with aquifer solids. Lactate, propionate, crotonate, butyrate, and ethanol stimulated dehalogenation activity, while acetate, methanol, and isopropanol did not