Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contaminated Groundwater

Overview

Pools of Petroleum hydrocarbon LNAPL can be skimmed off groundwater using in well skimmers or dual phase extraction. However, what about the LNAPL that isn’t mobile? Or isn’t hydraulically connected to the extraction wells? Or dissolved phase hydrocarbon plumes? This is where bioremediation excels.

Petroleum hydrocarbons are natural compounds and microbes have evolved over millions of years to readily degrade them. We can help to enhance the natural aerobic or anaerobic processes that are likely already occurring. We do this by determining what is limiting the current bioremediation rate and providing advice about how to speed up the natural process using indigenous microbes. This may be amendment with nutrients, electron acceptors, pH buffering, etc or evaluating thermally enhanced bioremediation.

Key Petroleum Hydrocarbon Groundwater Services

Preliminary evaluation

We can advise on whether bioremediation may be appropriate for your contaminated site and what initial testing would be worthwhile to consider (both microbial and chemical).

Microdiagnostic Evaluation

While many labs in Australia can provide the chemical analysis, we are unique in our comprehensive suite of micro-diagnostic analysis tool. Our micro-diagnostics for petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated sites include …

DNA analysis:

NextGen Bacteria Community Profile: for insights into the health, potential treatment inhibition, competitors to and helpful supporters of hydrocarbon degraders.
qPCR abundance: of key functional genes for hydrocarbon oxidation: we use qPCR assays to quantify the abundance of genes encoding hydrocarbon degrading enzymes such a monooxygenases, dioxygenases and dehydrogenases active under aerobic conditions or alkB, assA and bcrA genes encoding anaerobic hydrocarbon degradation pathways.

Learn more about our full range of qPCR targets for analysis and monitoring of contaminated soil and groundwater using our qPCR Target Search tool.

Spectrophotometric analysis:

Dehydrogenase Activity (DHA) Assay: Measures microbial biomass and oxidative ability, indicating the potential for biodegradation of hydrocarbons.
Laccase Activity Assay: Evaluates the presence of laccase enzymes, which are involved in the degradation of lignin and other complex organic molecules. Useful in assessing the breakdown of organic pollutants.
Peroxidase Activity Assay: Assesses the activity of peroxidase enzymes, which play a role in the oxidation of organic compounds. Important for evaluating the degradation of phenolic pollutants and other recalcitrant compounds.

Treatability benchtesting

After the initial micro-diagnostic analysis, some sites may move directly to pilot treatment. However, microcosm bench studies may be useful to optimise treatment protocols.

Benchtesting can help quantify the benefit of enhancement strategies, such as: temperature increases, bioaugmentation, macro and micro nutrient addition, etc

Treatment

We supply a comprehensive range of products for successful bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated groundwater, including:

Bioaugmentation microbial culture mixes tailored to your site, typically dependent on the age of the contamination.
Nutrient mixes to optimise and simplify bioremediation, eg. tailoring the release of nitrogen and phosphorous to match microbial use for bioremediation.
Surfactants and de-sorption agents to improve the bioavailability of the contaminants.
Provision of electron acceptors including oxygen for aerobic oxidation or nitrate and sulfate for anaerobic oxidation.

Monitoring

Contaminant analysis only tells you part of the story. Our analysis provides insights into why contaminants levels are changing (or not) and if treatment is working well or needs adjustment.

For example, stable contaminant levels may be due to source dissolution at similar rates to bioremediation. However, Compound Specific Isotope Analysis coupled with micro-diagnostics provides proof of bioremediation and can be used to estimate degradation rates.

Key monitoring packs for petroleum hydrocarbon groundwater contaminated sites are:

CSIA-BTEX: C12/13 isotope analysis of BTEX compounds for bioremediation monitoring of hydrocarbon contaminated sites.
qPCR-HCAe11: qPCR pack of 11 key enzyme targets for monitoring petroleum hydrocarbon aerobic oxidation bioremediation monitoring, ie. TOD, RMO, RDEG, PHE, EDO, BPH4, NAH, NAG, PHN, AlkB. [More info]
qPCR-HCAn9: qPCR pack of 9 key enzyme targets for monitoring anaerobic oxidation of petroleum hydrocarbons, ie. Total-Bact, BSS, ABC, ANC, NMS, assA, BCR, SRB, mcrA [More info]
qPCR-CustPk: Customised qPCR pack of specific gene targets for bioremediation of compounds specific to your site, eg. BTEX.
AssDLP: Spectrophotometric activity quantification of Dehydrogenase, Laccase and Peroxidase. Note, these Spectrophotometric assays can be provided for on-site field assessment.

Learn more about our full range of qPCR targets for analysis and monitoring of oil, fuel or other petroleum hydrocarbons contaminated groundwater using our qPCR Target Search tool.

Please also contact us if there are targets you would like that aren't on this menu. We have additional targets that aren't listed and, if needed, we can develop new targets for you project.