Laboratory and field performance evaluation of different grades of chitin

The Distler Brickyard Site, located outside Louisville, KY, contains trichloroethylene and its biological degradation products in groundwater. While the presence of biodegradation products indicated that enhanced bioremediation was a viable option for cleanup of this site, effective implementation was complicated by the low permeability silt and clay units. Different grades of chitin with varying concentrations of protein and bicarbonate were evaluated for dechlorination performance. A series of columns was constructed in the laboratory to evaluate the dechlorination performance and longevities of each grade of chitin. An innovative process was developed to address the problem of distributing bioamendments in low-permeability media. The BioFrac™ process incorporates chitin as a solid-phase electron donor, with hydraulic fracturing, resulting in a network of highly-permeable chitin and sand filled fractures enhancing aquifer permeability while distributing an electron donor throughout the treatment area. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 8th International In Situ and On-Site Bioremediation Symposium (Baltimore, MD 6/6-9/2005).