Outgassing Losses of Toluene and m-Xylene Evaluated by 14C-Based Mass Balances for Laboratory Bioventing Simulations

Abstract

Mixtures of toluene, ethylbenzene, and the xylenes spiked with 14C-labeled toluene or m-xylene were added to bench-scale bioventing simulation columns filled with hydrocarbon-contaminated subsurface soils. After 2 to 4 weeks of incubation during which air was pumped through the column at rates of at least 2 ml·min−1·kg−1 between 54 and 84% of the radiolabel was recovered in traps as outgassed parent compound from four columns sterilized with gamma-irradiation. In contrast, seven nonsterilized but otherwise identically treated (except for inorganic nitrogen addition) columns lost less than 0.4% (and one column lost 0.7%) of the radiolabel through outgassing of the parent compound. Nonsterilized columns lost 40 to 61% of the radiolabel as 14CO2, whereas gamma-irradiated columns usually lost only trace amounts of 14C in this form. Biologically active columns also retained much larger fractions than sterilized columns of the radiolabel in the subsoil in forms, possibly microbial biomass, from which it could be recovered by wet oxidation. Addition of 10 or 40 mg/kg of mineral nitrogen had no consistent effect on bioventing performance.