Amendment for increased methane production rate in municipal solid waste landfill gas collection systems.

Optimization of methane production rate can potentially decrease the operational lifetime of the landfill site and assist with better management of methane harvesting from the landfill cells. Increased moisture content in landfill cells is known to increase the rate of methane production. Several natural biopolymers can sustain moisture content in a solid matrix while providing a scaffolding for microbial communities to grow. This research examined the effect of the biopolymer, produced by Rhizobium tropici, on bench-scale methane generation from municipal solid waste. The addition of the R. tropici biopolymer increased the rate of methane production from 27% to 78% when compared to the control study for low and high concentrations of biopolymer amendment, respectively. R. tropici biopolymer shortened the lag phase by up to six days over the control, depending on the level of biopolymer amendment added to the solid waste. The mechanism appears to be facilitating biofilm formation through the combination of increased moisture retention and surface modification of the solid waste. Incorporation of biopolymer amendment in the alternative daily cover activities at commercial landfills could provide a viable approach for full scale application.

Impact of different environmental conditions on the aggregation of biogenic U(IV) nanoparticles synthesized by Desulfovibrio alaskensis G20.

This study investigates the impact of specific environmental conditions on the formation of colloidal U(IV) nanoparticles by the sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB, Desulfovibrio alaskensis G20). The reduction of soluble U(VI) to less soluble U(IV) was quantitatively investigated under growth and non-growth conditions in bicarbonate or 1,4-piperazinediethanesulfonic acid (PIPES) buffered environments. The results showed that under non-growth conditions, the majority of the reduced U nanoparticles aggregated and precipitated out of solution. High resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed that only a very small fraction of cells had reduced U precipitates in the periplasmic spaces in the presence of PIPES buffer, whereas in the presence of bicarbonate buffer, reduced U was also observed in the cytoplasm with greater aggregation of biogenic U(IV) particles at higher initial U(VI) concentrations. The same experiments were repeated under growth conditions using two different electron donors (lactate and pyruvate) and three electron acceptors (sulfate, fumarate, and thiosulfate). In contrast to the results of the non-growth experiments, even after 0.2 µm filtration, the majority of biogenic U(IV) remained in the aqueous phase resulting in potentially mobile biogenic U(IV) nanoparticles. Size fractionation results showed that U(IV) aggregates were between 18 and 200 nm in diameter, and thus could be very mobile. The findings of this study are helpful to assess the size and potential mobility of reduced U nanoparticles under different environmental conditions, and would provide insights on their potential impact affecting U(VI) bioremediation efforts at subsurface contaminated sites.

Modeling contaminant transport and remediation at an acrylonitrile spill site in Turkey.

The August 1999 earthquake in Turkey damaged three acrylonitrile (AN) storage tanks at a plant producing synthetic fiber by polymerization. A numerical modeling study was carried out to analyze the groundwater flow and contaminant (AN) transport at the spill site. This study presents the application of a numerical groundwater model to determine the hydrogeological parameters of the site, where such data were not available during the field surveys prior to the simulation studies. The two- and three-dimensional transient flow and transport models were first calibrated using the first 266days of observed head and concentration data and then verified using the remaining 540-day observed data set. Off-site migration of the contaminant plume was kept under control within the site boundaries owing to the favorable geology of the site, the characteristics of the local groundwater flow regime and the pumping operations. As expected, the applied pump-and-treat system was effective at high-permeability zones, but not fully effective at low-permeability zones. The results of long-term simulations for unconfined aquifer showed that the size of the plume in the high permeability zone shrank significantly due to the dilution by natural recharge. However, in the low permeability zone, it was not significantly affected. The study showed that accurate and sufficient data regarding the source characteristics, concentration and groundwater level measurements, groundwater pumping rates and their durations at each of the extraction points involved in the pump-and-treat system along with the hydrogeological site characterization are the key parameters for successful flow and transport model calibrations.

Influence of heavy metals on microbial growth kinetics including lag time: mathematical modeling and experimental verification.

Heavy metals can significantly affect the kinetics of substrate biodegradation and microbial growth, including lag times and specific growth rates. A model to describe microbial metabolic lag as a function of the history of substrate concentration has been previously described by Wood et al. (Water Resour Res 31:553-563) and Ginn (Water Resour Res 35:1395-1408). In the present study, this model is extended by including the effect of heavy metals on metabolic lag by developing an inhibitor-dependent functional to account for the metabolic state of the microorganisms. The concentration of the inhibiting metal is explicitly incorporated into the functional. The validity of the model is tested against experimental data on the effects of zinc on Pseudomonas species isolated from Lake Coeur d'Alene sediments, Idaho, U.S.A., as well as the effects of nickel or cobalt on a mixed microbial culture collected from the aeration tank of a wastewater treatment plant in Athens, Greece. The simulations demonstrate the ability to incorporate the effect of metals on metabolism through lag, yield coefficient, and specific growth rates. The model includes growth limitation due to insufficient transfer of oxygen into the growth medium.