Respirometric Analysis of the Biodegradation of Organic Contaminants in Soil and Water

Client-funded bench-scale investigations concerning the likelihood of successfully applying biological remediation to hazardous wastes must be cost-effective, and they usually need only determine if biodegradation is likely to occur on site. To assess the potential for stimulating biodegradation, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) was used to continuously monitor bacterial respiration during growth on mixed organic wastes from contaminated water and soil. Continuously collected oxygen-consumption data provided information on the overall metabolic activity of the resident bacterial population and permitted direct observation of the cessation of microbial respiratory activity and, thus, the termination of aerobic degradation. The correlation of biological oxygen utilization with biodegradation was confirmed using independent analytical methods. Continuous, long-term BOD analysis was applied to bench-scale studies to assess the biodegradation of mixed organic wastes from contaminated sites and industrial waste effluents. This information was used to make an initial determination regarding the need to further explore bioremediation as a potential remedial-action technology using on-site, pilot-scale testing.