Control of Biofouling

REMEDIATION Winter 2013
Control of Biofouling: Lessons Learned

From a Decade of Carbon Injection
System Operation and Maintenance
Shawn Burnell
Jon Spitzinger
Peng Jin
Jay Erickson
Erin Hauber
Denice Nelson
Over the past decade, we have learned a number of critical lessons surrounding carbon substrate
handling while operating and maintaining hundreds of enhanced in situ biological remedies. The
same qualities that make these substrates effective can also cause biofouling of the mixing system,
piping infrastructure, and remediation wells. Managing biofouling is a key piece of a successful
remedy and requires a unique set of design principles. Small decreases in injection rates can have
considerable impacts to life-cycle costs and performance caused by decreased substrate distribu-
tion and longer injection time frames, resulting in the need for system cleaning, well rehabilitation,
and even well replacement. Biofouling can impair performance in any size system, but effects are
often magnied by large injection volumes and extended time frames. Design should be consid-
ered in all stages of the anaerobic enhanced in situ bioremediation life cycle, particularly related to
reagent mixing, storage, and residence time within the system. By understanding the fundamental
mechanisms of biofouling, practitioners can make operational adjustments to enhance remedy
performance by considering potential biofouling controls in the design; balancing site-specic
strategy and diagnostics; and proactively adjusting and ne tuning control/prevention technology
and methodology.
Ultimately, a combination of chemical and physical methods may be required to operate a
carbon handling system over the long term; however, the operational costs can be greatly reduced
and delivery efciency increased if these methods are understood during the design phase. O
c 2013
Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
INTRODUCTION
Enhanced in situ bioremediation (EISB) involves promoting growth of native microbial
communities that are capable of degrading target contaminants in impacted groundwater
aquifers by introducing organic substrates to create conditions favoring microbial
metabolism. Most groundwater environments contain an active and diverse microbial
population, but growth is limited in the absence of high concentrations of nutrients (Fry,
Selker, & Gorelick, 1997). By introducing organic carbon substrates into contaminated
groundwater, in situ anaerobic bioremediation may be enhanced as metabolic activities
and growth of the native microbial community are accelerated (Cullimore, 1999;
Environmental Security Technology Certication Program [ESTCP], 2005). The same
c 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/rem.21340 85
Control of Biofouling: Lessons Learned From a Decade of Carbon Injection System Operation and Maintenance
conditions that favor successful remediation, however, stimulate microbial growth and gas
generation within the injection wells and remediation system infrastructure. This can also
result in reduced delivery efciency through injection system fouling and decreases in
hydraulic conductivity and formation porosity. While the potential for biofouling within
these types of systems is generally acknowledged, it is often underestimated at the initial
planning stage of a bioremediation project. Excluding biofouling during the initial design
and planning phase of the project can result in a high risk of operational issues that are
magnied as the size of the mixing and distribution system increases.
Mechanisms of Biofouling
There are several different mechanisms in which biofouling can impact system
performance including:
r
Biolm growth, expansion, and destruction/detachment from surfaces can perma-
nently reduce effective pipe size, formation hydraulic conductivity, permeability of
the porous media, and also clog system equipment.
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Bacteria attach, grow, and block the well screen, lter pack, and mechanical compo-
nents of the delivery system, thereby limiting or preventing the proper function of
the well and critical system controls.
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Fermentative gases, which are generated directly fromanaerobic microbial metabolic
activities or shifting of carbonate to carbonic acid and carbon dioxide in groundwater;
these gases occupy pore space and further reduce formation hydraulic conductivity
and permeability of the porous media for an extended period of time before dissipating
in the aquifer (Ye, Sleep, & Chien, 2009).
As shown in Exhibit 1, available carbon substrates and/or electron donors span from
gases, such as pure hydrogen, to solids, such as chitin or bark mulch. The typical organic
substrates used in EISB are aqueous/water-soluble electron donors, such as lactate,
molasses, whey, or diluted slurry of emulsied electron donors, such as emulsied
vegetable oil. These liquid reagents can be delivered through injection wells, which
provide the exibility of altering the dosing concentration, volume, and injection
frequency.
Historically, discussions around the subject of biofouling have focused on the fouling
occurring in wells and aquifers (Cullimore, 1999; ESTCP, 2005). While these are both
important aspects of biofouling associated with EISB systems, biological activity can start
much earlier in the handling process. Microbial activity will begin when the following
conditions exist:
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the presence of nutrients (organic carbon substrates and minerals);
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favorable pH and temperature; and
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no physical and chemical destruction stresses.
In many systems, these conditions will exist within the storage vessel for the carbon
reagent, throughout the mixing system, and in associated conveyance piping. Biolms will
form on surfaces and consist of microbial cells, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS),
86 Remediation DOI: 10.1002/rem c 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Exhibit 1. Various electron donors/carbon substrates used for EISB remedies; relative longevity
of the substrates increases to the right
Exhibit 2. Biolm, including EPS, microbial cells, and water removed from an
ethanol distribution system
and water (Spath, Flemming, & Wuertz, 1998; Wuertz et al., 2001), as shown in Exhibit
2. While well materials and soil particles are ideal growth media for these sessile microbes,
mixing infrastructure, tanks, pipes, valves, and lters are all susceptible to biofouling.
Microorganisms will adhere to solid surfaces through electrostatic interactions,
hydration forces, and hydrophobic and steric interactions (Elimelech, Gregory, Jia, &
c 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Remediation DOI: 10.1002/rem 87
Exhibit 3. Agglomeration of sessile microbial cells
Williams, 1995). When the biolm matures (agglomeration), microbial cells slough off
and are transported downstream to the next surface and the agglomeration process begins
again (Cullimore, 1999). Exhibit 3 shows a conceptual schematic of attachment and
agglomeration of transported cells. The earlier in the handling process that agglomeration
begins, the more problems with biofouling there will be throughout the system
infrastructure and into the subsurface.
Microbial metabolic activity, growth, maturation, and stabilization of biolms are
dynamic biological processes that are both dependent on and signicantly impact
environmental conditions. Ideally, in the EISB process, carbon substrates are introduced
at a concentration that optimizes the biodegradation of contaminants while also
minimizing excessive microbial growth. In reality, however, organic carbon substrates are
often overdosed to compensate for distribution challenges associated with uncertainties in
aquifer biogeochemistry and hydraulics. As a result, excessive microbial growth and
biolm expansion can occur that reduces the pore spaces between soil particles, decreases
the aquifer hydraulic conductivity, reduces injection rates, and decreases overall mixing
and distribution system performance. Biolm expansion may also cause decreased stability
of the agglomerated cells, resulting in either partial or complete detachment of the
biolms. The detached biolms may block the well screen or the connection channels
between pore spaces, which may further reduce the permeability of subsurface formation
(Ghannoum & OToole, 2004; Smith, 1995).
With the maturation of the biolm and extension of anaerobic growth, gases are
generated as by-products and/or end products of anaerobic degradation of organic carbon
substrates. Above saturation levels, gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen
may cause biolm expansion and gas accumulation in system piping and pore spaces,
which can also increase aquifer injection resistance and reduce hydraulic conductivity and
permeability of the subsurface formation (Ye et al., 2009; Zhang & Gillham, 2005). Most
soluble carbon substrates are readily metabolized, and gas generation can occur in real
time during an injection event once the microbial ecology is established within the system
infrastructure or around the injection points (Suthersan, Horst, Nelson, & Potter, 2010).
This is more prevalent during large-volume, long-duration injections.
The relationship between porosity decreases and the resulting change in hydraulic
conductivity is dened by the Kozeny-Carmen equation, which is shown graphically in
Exhibit 4 (Li, Benson, & Lawson, 2005). While this is an empirical formula that generally
oversimplies actual aquifer conditions, it demonstrates that on average slight decreases in
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
P
e
r
m
e
a
b
i
l
i
t
y

R
e
d
u
c
t
i
o
n
Porosity Reduction
2
3
1
1
+
=
o
o
o
o
o
n
n n
n
n n
K K
Exhibit 4. The relationship between porosity reduction and hydraulic conductivity
aquifer porosity can have a drastic effect on hydraulic conductivity as demonstrated by
Exhibit 4. As an example, the Kozeny-Carmen equation estimates that a 10 percent
reduction in aquifer porosity reduces the hydraulic conductivity on an aquifer by 33
percent.
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
As discussed earlier, biofouling within the storage, mixing, and distribution infrastructure
of carbon substrate injection systems can inhibit delivery and distribution of reagents to
the subsurface, ultimately decreasing the effectiveness of the remedy and increasing the
overall life-cycle cost. Sound design, strategic operation, and proactive maintenance of
injection infrastructure are critical to successful and cost-effective remediation. The
primary considerations when designing an EISB remedy to limit the effects of
biofouling are:
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system design: in some cases can prevent biofouling, and supports ease of maintenance;
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injection program formulation: dosing strategies that limit nutrient residence time, use
of bases or other chemicals to inhibit microbial growth, and the like; and
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system maintenance: physical and chemical rehabilitation.
If the engineering and formulation are not enough to limit biofouling, physical and
chemical cleaning should be used as a nal solution. An effective maintenance strategy
should be proactive and address fouling before large cleaning efforts are required, which
can cause system downtime and increase operational costs. The operation and
maintenance (O&M) cost per gallon is a simple metric that can be used to track how
successful the design, operation, and maintenance of the system is with respect to
sustaining optimal system performance. Tracking cost per gallon over time can paint a
quantitative picture of what is working at a specic site and what is not.
Injection-Well Design Strategies
As with any remediation well, proper well design will create an optimal connection to the
aquifer, resulting in minimal head loss associated with the well and a reduction in overall
remediation-well life-cycle costs. When considering well fouling, the importance of
properly designed wells is even more critical because well-fouling treatment methods are
dependent on accessing the well screen, lter pack, and nearby aquifer soils.
Well and wellhead completion design should consider the common well-fouling
treatment methods for the following reasons:
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Access: Most well rehabilitation approaches rely on use of a drill or pump rig. As
such, the well and well vault must be designed to allow placement of the rig over the
well, with adequate room for tooling, and access for a safe working environment for
the cleaning crews. Piping for the well should be designed with adequate unions or
quick connects, and valving to allow efcient and safe removal, and lock out tag out
capability.
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Diameter: Well casing and screen must be a large enough diameter for use of effective
tooling, including surge blocks, jetting tools, air lifting tooling, pumps, and bailers.
Although some of this tooling is available in 2-inch diameters, it is more common in
4-inch and larger sizes.
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Material Selection: Casing and screen materials must be compatible with the expected
well-cleaning chemicals, as well as being sturdy enough for the mechanical rehabilita-
tion methods such as surging and jetting. As discussed below, well-cleaning chemicals
can include acids, bases, biocides, and surfactants, all of which could be detrimental
to some well materials. Depending on the chemicals selected for rehabilitation, pH
can range from less than 1 standard unit up to 13 standard units.
Mechanical rehabilitation methods place added stresses on the well casing and screen.
Planning for this within the design will drive the material selection as well. For example,
PVC has many strength issues, which include pressures generated during surging, which
may be above the collapse pressure rating of casing and screens. Additionally, water
jetting pressures can break PVC at pressures above 100 pounds per square inch (psi).
Metal screens can withstand jetting pressures up to 200 psi (Driscoll, 1986).
Mixing and Delivery System Design Strategies
In addition to well-design considerations, there are two key general design principles that
can be used to deter in situ fouling at all sites. First, biomass expansion is most rapid under
aerobic conditions (Cullimore, 1999; Suthersan & Payne, 2005). The proliferation of
Exhibit 5. Aerobic biomass on injection wellhead tting, the result of entrained air in the injected
reagent
biomass under aerobic conditions has frequently been observed at EISB sites when
oxygenated water is mixed with carbon reagent. The introduction of oxygen into the
carbon solution should be minimized through the use of injection drop tubes, short
residence time of solution ex situ, and elimination of unnecessary turbulence (i.e.,
recirculation of solution to control injection rates). When comparing the higher yield in
energy and carbon dioxide derived from the aerobic respiration of glucose to anaerobic
respiration (fermentation), these observations make sense. The readily available energy
gained from aerobic respiration not only encourages rapid microbial growth and biomass
generation, but also produces carbon dioxide at a faster rate, both of which can quickly
clog injection infrastructure and pore spaces, as demonstrated in Exhibit 5.
Second, designing a system to minimize residence time within the system
infrastructure will minimize the amount of biofouling within the system. Residence time
within the mixing and distribution system is dependent on ow rates and the size of tanks
and pipes. At many sites, a signicant change in the ow rate will be observed as injection
ow rates at individual wells change and the number of injection wells in operation
decreases. Understanding the maximum and minimum ow rates during an event is
required to accurately bracket infrastructure residence times during the design phase.
Therefore, a full-volume injection with a dye tracer for radius of inuence conrmation is
the preferred characterization method, rather than a short-term falling head test or
partial-volume injection test. Even when a full-volume injection test is performed
correctly, the ow-rate data that are collected should not be extrapolated to other areas of
a site without conrming that the subsurface conditions are similar.
After the site hydraulics are thoroughly understood, the infrastructure can be sized to
limit residence time to the extent possible. Design concepts to limit residence times
include in-line substrate dilution as opposed to batch mixing, appropriately sized piping,
and decentralized, node-based mixing and injection to limit pipe lengths. While pipe size
should be optimized to reduce residence time, pipe sizes should not be less than 1-inch
diameter and should include regular clean-outs to facilitate future cleaning.
Decentralized, node-based mixing is a simple approach to decrease the residence time of
mixed reagent in system piping before injection into the subsurface. While large
centralized mixing systems can be enticing for large EISB remedies, the pipe runs to
individual wells can be in excess of 1,000 feet. The result is often prolic biofouling and
operational costs, which far outweigh the original cost-effectiveness of centralized mixing.
OPERATIONAL STRATEGIES
While operating dynamic EISB systems, practitioners should continuously analyze and
adjust the operation of a system to meet critical design criteria, most often associated with
parameters such as total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations, aquifer pH, allowable
injection pressure, and target reagent injection volumes. There are a number of
operational adjustments that can be made to prevent biofouling from occurring
throughout this process, as discussed below.
Well Development
Periodic collection and tracking of hydraulic parameters, including wellhead pressures
and/or depth to water within the injection well, static water levels, and injection ow
rate and volume, allow early identication of losses in injection capacity as well as the
relative improvements realized from well maintenance. Additionally, visual inspection of
the well screen throughout the system operation offers insight into the rate and type of
fouling. Deploying a downhole camera (Exhibit 6) can show the relative blockage in the
well screen, color, consistency, and depth of fouling, and prevalence of suspended solids
(sloughing of biomass and mineral precipitates).
In all cases, the design of a treatment regimen must weigh the costs of maintaining
injection capacity against well replacement/abandonment and the impact on remedial
objectives. Cost-effective operation of both small- and large-scale EISB systems depends
on a thorough cost-benet analysis. In the authors experience, the proportion of a wells
life-cycle cost associated with maintenance is often underestimated and can be as much as
50 percent.
Injection-Well Mechanical Rehabilitation
During preliminary design and installation, proper well development is a critical factor in
achieving the necessary communication between the well and the surrounding formation.
As part of the operation of an EISB, mechanical well rehabilitation should be used as a last
resort after all other design and operational strategies have been explored to prevent
fouling. There are three common mechanical methods that are either used alone or in
Exhibit 6. Injection well biofouling, (a) before rehabilitation and (b) after
rehabilitation
combination for well development. These methods are air lifting, water jetting, and
mechanical surging and are described below.
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Air lifting can either be performed to pump the well or for surging. In both cases,
compressed air is injected through a line placed into the well to lift water and sediment
from the well. For pumping, air is introduced into the well on a continuous basis.
For surging, air is injected into the well to lift the water to the surface and, when it
reaches the surface, the air supply is shut off, allowing the aerated water column to
fall.
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Water jetting involves pumping water through a pipe and out a jetting tool at high
velocities with nozzles positioned within the well screen. The high-velocity jets
force the water outward through the well screen openings and agitate the formation
particles surrounding the well screen.
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Mechanical surging involves inserting a tight tting block of material in the well and
forcing water into and out of the well screen/formation by moving the block upward
and downward inside of the well casing.
A combination of methods will generally be required for effective well development
(both during initial and redevelopment efforts). The well-development process should
begin with brushing followed by airlifting or bailing to dislodge fouling deposits within the
well and to determine that groundwater can ow freely into the well screen.
Water jetting should be added to the airlifting development procedure for wells with
wire-wrapped screens after the initial brushing and pumping activities have been
completed. Jetting can be very effective at breaking up fouling deposits within the screen
and lter pack but is not always effective at moving the dislodged material into the well.
Thereafter, surging using the airlift or surge block method can be phased in to remove the
material and alternated with water jetting and airlifting.
Jetting can be very effec-
tive at breaking up fouling
deposits within the screen
and lter pack but is not
always effective at moving
the dislodged material into
the well.
Injection-Well Chemical Rehabilitation
While mechanical treatments can remove signicant amounts of materials, their
effectiveness is greatly enhanced when used in conjunction with chemicals. If fouling is
severe, a sample of the sludge should be collected to properly characterize the type of
fouling and design an effective treatment regimen. Experience has shown that within the
same site (even nested wells) the fouling signature is often unique, reecting a specic
cocktail of mineral complexes and microbial by-products. For instance, fouling
dominated by mineral complexes may require delivering periodic doses of acids or
caustics to dissolve precipitates, while fouling dominated by biomass and EPS may require
the application of a disinfectant and/or biodispersant to directly degrade and dislodge the
biolm.
The well should be mechanically cleaned (using a stiff brush) to remove as much of
the fouling deposits as possible prior to the addition of well-cleaning chemicals. This is
performed to ensure the applied chemicals are in contact with the targeted lter pack and
near formation material, instead of being utilized by deposits within the casing and screen.
Following brushing, the dislodged material should be removed by bailing, air lifting, or
pumping.
Addition of the chemicals should be conducted slowly, with frequent measurement of
the pH, so that excessive volumes of chemicals are not used. Generally, chemicals require
mixing in the well column, after which most chemicals are allowed to sit in the well
between 12 and 24 hours. The well will be purged until the ambient aquifer pH is
achieved following chemical treatment. Chemical rehabilitating agents that we have found
to be most effective are provided in the sections that follow.
Inorganic Acids
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Hydrochloric acid (HCl) (muriatic acid)This acid is widely used in well rehabilitation
due to its rapid dissolution of mineral deposits. Health and safety considerations
are required during handling of this acid because of the production of highly toxic
fumes and its corrosiveness. Some of the problems in the use of hydrochloric acid are
related to this high-corrosion potential against stainless and low-carbon steel screens.
A stepwise dosing with pH measurements should be conducted during application to
avoid very acidic conditions that would generate corrosive waste (pH less than 2).
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Phosphoric acidPhosphoric acid is a good replacement for hydrochloric acid in well-
cleaning applications. Unlike hydrochloric acid, it has very limited corrosive activity
and is much safer to handle. There are also some metal-chelating effects associated
with phosphoric acid (Schnieders, 2003). One of the disadvantages of using this
acid is the production of phosphate, which could stimulate bacterial growth. Some
commercially available products use phosphoric acid in combination with a polymeric
dispersant that limits phosphate production.
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Sulfamic acidSulfamic acid is effective at removing carbonate scale deposits but
ineffective at treating iron deposits. Sulfamic acid is available in crystal and/or
powder form, which can be more convenient to ship and handle than liquids.
Phosphoric acid is a good
replacement for hydro-
chloric acid in well-cleaning
applications. Unlike hydro-
chloric acid, it has very lim-
ited corrosive activity and
is much safer to handle.
Organic Acids
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Hydroxyacetic acidHydroxyacetic acid is also known as glycolic acid and is a liquid
organic acid. It is effective at removing biofouling associated with iron and is relatively
safe to handle (relatively noncorrosive, nonoxidative, and reacts quickly). It also has
some biocidal properties.
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Citric acidCitric acid is another organic acid that is relatively safe to handle and
known to disrupt the biolm matrix. It is also a carbon substrate, so any residual
citric acid does not have to be removed from the well. However, citric acid is
a metal-chelating agent, so the dosing should be controlled, as it could mobilize
metals.
Antibacterial Agents
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Hydrogen peroxideHydrogen peroxide is a powerful disinfectant and oxidant. It is
highly reactive, which results in limited migration from point of introduction. One
of the disadvantages in the use of hydrogen peroxide is that it is highly reactive and
that it decomposes to oxygen, so the volume should be limited.
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ChlorineChlorine is also a powerful disinfectant. If feasible, chlorination should be
applied prior to an acid treatment if large amounts of biolm are present. Shock
chlorination alone may be sufcient for wells with mild biofouling problems.
Biocides
Note that these compounds act primarily by inhibiting bacterial growth but will not break
down and disperse a mature biolm. Therefore, they should be used as a biofouling
control before biofouling has been observed in the well.
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TolcideTolcide causes damage to the cell membrane of target microorganisms and
it is a potent inhibitor of lactate dehydrogenase, which is a crucial enzyme in the
metabolic pathway for sulfate-reducing bacteria.
Exhibit 7. The hydraulic response to biofouling and rehabilitation
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EthanolAlthough frequently used as a carbon substrate, ethanol is biocidal at high
concentrations (greater than 50 percent).
The effects of a combination of mechanical and chemical rehabilitation can be
dramatic, as shown by Exhibits 6 and 7. Exhibit 7 also demonstrates the importance of
hydraulic monitoring to determine when well rehabilitation is justied.
Developing an Effective Substrate Dosing Strategy
A soluble carbon substrate delivery system can be ne-tuned by using innovative
approaches to substrate dosing. The operational variables of system operation are dosing
concentrations, timing, and the addition of biocidal amendments. In cases where alcohols,
such as ethanol and methanol, are used as carbon substrates, biocidal doses can be used to
eliminate biofouling rather than merely slowing it down.
Selection of the appropriate organic carbon substrate should include balancing the
aquifer structure, fermentative gas generation rate, utilization kinetics (Exhibit 1),
groundwater velocity, and cost (Suthersan et al., 2010). Solubility of organic carbon
substrates relates to the bioavailability; the utilization kinetics are directly related to the
likelihood of a reagent to biofoul.
To reduce the effective infrastructure residence time, substrates can be pulsed at
concentrations higher than the average target concentration to allow for a subsequent
clean water ush that will slow infrastructure fouling via ushing, and dilute the more
concentrated substrate in the subsurface to achieve the desired concentration. The
performance of each system will vary slightly, and the distribution of substrate in situ can
Exhibit 8. The effects of pH adjustment on injection ow rates
Ratios of initial injection ow rates and injection ow rates after an extended injection period
improved from less than 0.6 during injections without pH adjustment (rst two events) to above
0.85 when pH adjustment was implemented (last ve events).
be effective by pulsing at higher concentrations. At some sites, careful management of
carbon loading and diligent clean water ushing between injection events has proven
sufcient to control fouling during the treatment time frame. At other sites that require
continuous injections to achieve target treatment time frames, a more aggressive approach
is often needed. This may include periodically dosing the handling system and injection
wells with a chemical, such as an acid, oxidant, or biocide, that suppresses biological
growth.
As shown in Exhibit 8, another technique used to curb biological activity in injection
infrastructure involves adding a base to the injection solution to increase the pH to a
threshold that suppresses fermentative activity. This delays the rapid breakdown of carbon
and ensuing production of carbon dioxide and methane until the solution mixes with
groundwater. Additionally, at this elevated pH, carbon dioxide is predominantly the
bicarbonate anion (HCO
3
) and, therefore, carbon dioxide off-gasing is limited. Once
sufcient in situ mixing, buffering, and dilution occur, the pH will return to circumneutral
levels conducive to biological activity. While this technique has successfully improved
distribution and limited biomass at some sites, consideration must be given to the
Exhibit 9. An analysis of cost per injected gallon (normalized to the average cost per gallon of
the rst year of operation), before and after proactive maintenance
After a proactive maintenance strategy was implemented, costs per injected gallon decreased
51 percent.
geochemical responses to pH adjustment. For example, increasing the pH of moderately
hard water may cause mineral precipitation and potential scaling.
Developing an Effective O&M Strategy
A well-designed system will only operate successfully if it is maintained properly. In most
cases, soluble carbon substrate delivery systems will require periodic infrastructure
cleaning due to biofouling. The key to cost-effective operation is to monitor
early-indicator parameters, such as friction loss through pipelines, gas buildup, and visual
indicators of fouling before a drop in ow rates due to infrastructure or well fouling is
observed. Proactive monitoring and cleaning can be scheduled based on early-indicator
parameters and is cheaper from a life-cycle perspective than the effort required to recover
a system that has fouled to the point of near failure multiple times throughout a remedy.
Proactive O&M has been proven to reduce costs and increase injection volumes
signicantly over reactive O&M. Exhibit 9 shows how the dollar per gallon of injected
reagent can be controlled by proactive maintenance.
The design objective of an EISB system is to distribute and maintain TOC above
background levels for a distance that allows the contaminant sufcient residence time for
complete treatment. One technique employed to control biofouling has been to reduce
the rate of carbon loading in the treatment zone. While increasing the in situ
concentration of TOC may lengthen the time between injection events, and therefore
save costs, the potential increase in biological activity may lead to a cascade of adverse
effects, including loss of injection capacity, gas entrapment, and depressed pH. The rate of
carbon loading can be reduced through selection of a lower in situ reagent concentration
and a more complex or slow-release carbon donor.
CONCLUSIONS
Success of an anaerobic EISB remedy relies upon maintaining organic carbon
concentrations in the aquifer above baseline concentrations. Large volumes of dilute
organic carbon reagents must be mixed, handled, and injected into the aquifer in order to
achieve this objective. The potential for biofouling will occur after the conditions in the
mixing and distribution system are amenable to biological growth. Systems can be
designed to both limit biofouling and make it easier to deal with biofouling when it does
occur by understanding the mechanisms of biological proliferation and the measures that
can be taken to control it.
A critical piece of system design includes reagent selection and formulation. The
challenges associated with each type of substrate are often similar; however, there are also
unique benets and challenges associated with each, including biocidal properties, biolm
growth, and fermentative gas generation. Practitioners can minimize operational costs and
drive EISB remedy success by understanding the specic characteristics of the selected
reagent and what proactive maintenance measures can be implemented to limit biological
growth within a particular type of system.
In small systems, one or two of the strategies discussed above may be sufcient.
For larger systems, the design considerations associated with long-term operation are the
most crucial; as these systems tend to handle large volumes of reagents and small
problems can exponentially accelerate to become large operational issues. Remedial
life-cycle costs can be controlled by designing systems that are easy to operate, clean, and
ush to minimize biological growth on system infrastructure surfaces. The design process
and reagent selection can help limit the effects of biofouling, but often an overarching
strategy includes physical and chemical maintenance procedures to negate the effects of
biofouling entirely.
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Shawn Burnell, P.E., is a senior engineer at ARCADIS-US. He is based out of the companys San Francisco,
California, ofce. He received his BA in chemistry from Colby College and his MS in environmental engineering
from Stanford University. He can be reached at shawn.burnell@arcadis-us.com.
Jon Spitzinger, P.E., is a project engineer at ARCADIS-US. He is based out of the companys Highlands Ranch,
Colorado, ofce. He received his BS in civil engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He can be reached
at jon.spitzinger@arcadis-us.com.
Peng Jin, PhD, P.E., is a staff environmental engineer at ARCADIS-US. He is based out of the companys
Newtown, Pennsylvania, ofce. He received his BE and MS in environmental engineering from Tsinghua Uni-
versity and his PhD in environmental engineering from the University of Cincinnati. He can be reached at
peng.jin@arcadis-us.com.
Jay Erickson, P.G., is a senior hydrogeologist at ARCADIS-US. He is based out of the companys Rapid City,
South Dakota, ofce. He received his BS in earth science from Montana State University. He can be reached at
jay.erickson@arcadis-us.com.
Erin Hauber is a project engineer at ARCADIS-US. She is based out of the companys Lenexa, Kansas, ofce. She
received her BS in civil engineering from the University of Kansas. She can be reached at erin.hauber@arcadis-
us.com.
Denice Nelson, PhD, P.E., is the in situ remediation practice lead at ARCADIS-US. She is based out of the
companys Minneapolis, Minnesota, ofce. She received her BS, MS, and PhD in environmental engineering from
the University of Minnesota. She can be reached at denice.nelson@arcadis-us.com.

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