Ex situ bioremediation of chlorophenol contaminated soil: comparison of slurry and solid‐phase bioreactors with the two‐step polymer extraction‐bioregeneration process

Abstract

AbstractBACKGROUNDAn innovative approach for ex situ soil bioremediation, based on absorptive polymers extraction combined with biological regeneration of the polymer in a two‐phase partitioning bioreactor (TPPB), was tested to remediate soil contaminated by chlorophenols. The objective of the study was to evaluate the performance of the proposed technology in comparison with conventional technologies, such as slurry bioreactors and solid‐phase bioreactors.RESULTSA soil highly contaminated (∼4 g kg−1 for each compound) by a mixture of 4‐chlorophenol (4CP) and pentachlorophenol (PCP), was treated with different bioremediation systems. Removal efficiencies achieved with polymer extraction were >70% for a contact time of 24 h; the contaminated polymer was then regenerated in a TPPB (∼100 and 85% biodegradation efficiencies for 4CP and PCP, respectively). No degradation of PCP occurred in conventional bioreactors, while, for 4CP, 40 days were required for its biodegradation in the slurry bioreactor, and 80 days to reach 67% removal in the solid‐phase bioreactor.CONCLUSIONAdvantages of the two‐step polymer‐based soil treatment in comparison with conventional technologies have been demonstrated for chlorophenols contaminated soils: efficiencies in the range 70–80% for soil decontamination and almost complete mineralization of the two compounds were achieved with reaction times suitable for application (<20 days). © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry