Biofilm Remediation for Restoration of Contaminated Army Sites.

Many Department of Defense (DoD) sites are contaminated with contaminants of concern (CoCs) that are hazardous to humans and the environment requiring novel remediation strategies. MSE Technology Applications, Inc. and the Center for Biofilm Engineering(Montana State University) propose this Phase I STTR to develop novel, biofilm-based, remediation technologies for in situ and ex situ bioremediation of soil and groundwater contaminants. Multispecies biofilms may represent a superior solution overexisting in situ remediation technologies due to their stability and diverse metabolic activities. Biofilms could improve the rate and extent of contaminant transformation over pure and suspended cultures, as well as enhance organism survival. Substrategradients develop naturally within biofilms and provide diverse environmental conditions required for mineralization of recalcitrant compounds. Phase I of this STTR will focus on the fundamental issues of establishing mixed-species biofilms to degraderecalcitrant contaminants. Biofilm development and contaminant degradation will be monitored, and biofilm architecture and community structure will be assessed. While this Phase I research focuses on two model contaminants, TNT and RDX, Phase II researchwill expand to other CoCs. A cost-effective biofilm-based bioremediation technology will have broad applicability for public and private-sector clients challenged with remediation of a wide range of contaminants. The successful development ofbiofilm-based bioremediation technologies for in situ and ex situ soil and groundwater contaminants will provide the Army, and other public and private sector clients, with an innovative, less expensive treatment tool. Biofilm processes will allow forgreater control of the reaction and complete mineralization of recalcitrant compounds, which most existing bioremediation technologies cannot achieve. Initially the market for this technology will be the DoD, but other public and private sector clientswith a broad range of bioremediation needs will also be served. The most obvious clients are military installations with munition/explosives, chlorinated aliphatic and chlorinated aromatic wastes. Other customers include those in the public and privatesector with subsurface pollutants that are difficult to treat and must be remediated in situ.