COMBINING GEOCHEMICAL AND NUMERICAL MODELING FOR CHLORINATED SOLVENTS GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION
type: CreativeWork
description: Chloroethenes represent a serious risk to aquatic ecosystems and human health on a worldwide scale. Chloroethenes contamination is difficult to solve due to the different optimal redox conditions needed to obtain efficient degradation of each chloroethene. The more chlorinated ones such as tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE) are better degraded via reductive dechlorination (RD) under anaerobic conditions, while the less chlorinated compounds such as dichloroethene (DCE) and vinyl chloride (VC) are better degraded via oxidation (OX) under aerobic conditions. Thus, sequential bioremediation systems (SBSs) able to stimulate anaerobic and aerobic biodegradation are preferred over traditional bioremediation systems targeting single degradation pathways. Assessing the efficiency of SBSs is a challenging task that requires a multidisciplinary approach, spanning from hydrogeology, organic geochemistry and microbiology. While expert knowledge and laboratory analyses provide initial inputs for the design of SBS, field monitoring data are needed to evaluate if and how bioremediation is carried out. Reactive transport models (RTMs) are suitable tools to assist decision makers when designing and monitoring bioremediation efficiency. To date, no applications to SBSs have been reported, possibly owing to the relative novelty of SBS and to the additional modeling challenges (e.g., more complex parameterization) that sequential systems pose over traditional bioremediation systems. RTMs have the capability to integrate and harmonize multiple data and, when properly tailored, to make useful predictions about a system’s behavior when different remediation set-ups are tested in order to optimize the cleanup operations. The general objective of this thesis was to develop methodologies for the evaluation of the efficiency of SBSs applied to chloroethenes aquifer contamination. As case study, we investigated one the largest SBS currently implemented in a polluted alluvial aqu…
abstract: Chloroethenes represent a serious risk to aquatic ecosystems and human health on a worldwide scale. Chloroethenes contamination is difficult to solve due to the different optimal redox conditions needed to obtain efficient degradation of each chloroethene. The more chlorinated ones such as tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE) are better degraded via reductive dechlorination (RD) under anaerobic conditions, while the less chlorinated compounds such as dichloroethene (DCE) and vinyl chloride (VC) are better degraded via oxidation (OX) under aerobic conditions. Thus, sequential bioremediation systems (SBSs) able to stimulate anaerobic and aerobic biodegradation are preferred over traditional bioremediation systems targeting single degradation pathways. Assessing the efficiency of SBSs is a challenging task that requires a multidisciplinary approach, spanning from hydrogeology, organic geochemistry and microbiology. While expert knowledge and laboratory analyses provide initial inputs for the design of SBS, field monitoring data are needed to evaluate if and how bioremediation is carried out. Reactive transport models (RTMs) are suitable tools to assist decision makers when designing and monitoring bioremediation efficiency. To date, no applications to SBSs have been reported, possibly owing to the relative novelty of SBS and to the additional modeling challenges (e.g., more complex parameterization) that sequential systems pose over traditional bioremediation systems. RTMs have the capability to integrate and harmonize multiple data and, when properly tailored, to make useful predictions about a system’s behavior when different remediation set-ups are tested in order to optimize the cleanup operations. The general objective of this thesis was to develop methodologies for the evaluation of the efficiency of SBSs applied to chloroethenes aquifer contamination. As case study, we investigated one the largest SBS currently implemented in a polluted alluvial aqu…
author: CASIRAGHI, GIULIA
language: eng
keywords: chloroethenes, enhanced bioremediation, sequential bioremediation system, anaerobic organohalide respiration, aerobic oxidative biodegradation, landfill, compound-specific stable isotope analysi, reactive transport model, PHREEQC, RT3D., Settore GEO/05 - Geologia Applicata
date published: 2023-07-25
date modified: 2026-07-27T20:19:05Z
provider: Università degli Studi di Milano
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Università degli Studi di Milano

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/986877

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.13130/casiraghi-giulia_phd2023-07-25