A Feasibility Study on the Formation of the Permeable Reactive Biobarier treated with Beijerinckia indica

Authors evaluated the feasibility of a permeable reactive biobarrier (PRB) treated with biofilm formed by Beijerinckia indica (B.indica). This study focused on evaluating two potentials of B.indica for the requirements of PRB: reducing the hydraulic conductivity and degrading the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The hydraulic conductivity was estimated by rigid wall column test and finally the values were converted to the values of intrinsic permeability. The nutrient solution was passed through the biobarrier column to activate the bacterium and then leachate was in turn carried into the column to evaluate the durability of the biobarrier. Phenanthrene was selected as a representative substance of PAHs. The ability of degrading phenanthrene by B.indica was evaluated by two-phase partitioning bioreactor after estimating the possibility with two pretests: observing the colony formation and the optical density on glucose-free medium containing phenanthrene. With the results, B.indica produced large amount of strongly adhesive exopolysaccharides (EPS) and reduced several orders of magnitude of the hydraulic conductivity after 2 weeks of cultivation. Furthermore, about 1000mg/1 of phenanthrene could be degraded by B.indica in the two-phase partitioning bioreactor. In conclusion, the application of the bacterium, B.indica, was found to have a potential role of a PRB to retain and remove contaminants in porous media.