Electrokinetic movement and biodegradation of 2,4‐dichlorophenoxyacetic acid in silt soil

The coupling of electrokinetic movement of an organic contaminant, 2,4‐dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4‐D), through soil and its biodegradation in situ has been demonstrated. In a first experiment, the direction and rate of movement of 2,4‐D were determined using homogeneously contaminated soil (864 mg 2,4‐D/kg dry weight soil) compacted into six individual compartments, 6 cm long, 3 cm wide, and 4 cm deep. Each compartment was bordered by a carbon felt anode and a stainless steel cathode. The application of a current density of 3.72 A/m 2 led to migration of 2,4‐D towards the anode at a rate of approximately 4 cm/day. In a second experiment, electrokinetic movement and biodegradation were combined in situ. Sterilized silt soil contaminated with ring‐labeled 14 C‐2,4‐D (811 mg 2,4‐D/kg dry weight soil) was compacted into a single soil compartment, 22 cm long, 7 cm wide, and 4 cm deep, in a 4.5 cm region adjacent to the cathode. The remainder of the compartment was filled with sterilized soil (to a total weight of 1,015 g). Burkholderia spp. RASC c2 (1.88 × 10 11 cells), a tetracycline‐resistant bacterium with chromosomally encoded degradative genes for 2,4‐D, was inoculated into the soil at a position 14–16 cm from the cathode. The reactor was placed within a sealed perspex box, with a constant air flow connected to sodium hydroxide traps. Under an applied current density of 0.89 A/m 2 , the pollutant moved towards the bacteria. As it reached the inoculated region, its concentration decreased in the soil and 14 CO 2 was recovered in the traps. At the end of the experiment, 87.1% of radiolabel had been removed from the soil, 5.8% of which was recovered as 14 CO 2 . A third, control, experiment showed a significant contrast in the absence of an electric current, where a slow rate of diffusion controlled the movement of both 2,4‐D and bacteria in the soil and biodegradation occurred at the interface between the diffusing fronts. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 74: 40–48, 2001.