US EPA

1851857 

Technical Report 

In Situ Bioremediation of Energetic Compounds in Groundwater 

Hatzinger, PB; Schaefer, CE; Sheehan, P; Leeson, A 

2012 

NTIS/10990053 

GRA and I 

GRA and I 

This Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) demonstration was designed to evaluate the technical effectiveness of in situ bioremediation as a treatment technology for explosives in groundwater at the Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, NJ. A recirculation cell design with semi-passive operation was employed to distribute and mix cosubstrate with contaminated groundwater in order to promote the biodegradation of nitramine and nitroaromatic explosives by indigenous bacteria. Cheese whey was utilized as a cosubstrate during the project based on extensive treatability testing. The overall performance of this design for remediation was determined during the demonstration. The impacts of the technology on the geochemistry of treated groundwater also were evaluated. In addition to technical performance, the demonstration provided the capital and operation and maintenance (O and M) costs of this type of system at a scale that can then be extrapolated to different full- scale designs.