Detection of Anaerobic Metabolites of Saturated and Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Petroleum-Contaminated Aquifers
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- 作者：Lisa M. Gieg and Joseph M. Suflita
- 刊名：Environmental Science & Technology
- 出版年：2002
- 出版时间：September 1, 2002
- 年：2002
- 卷：36
- 期：17
- 页码：3755 - 3762
- 全文大小：174K
- 年卷期：v.36,no.17(September 1, 2002)
- ISSN：1520-5851
文摘
Recent investigations have demonstrated that severalclasses of petroleum hydrocarbons are susceptible toanaerobic decay, including alkanes and mono- and polycyclicaromatic compounds. In previous work, benzylsuccinateswere shown to be useful indicators of in situ anaerobicalkylbenzene metabolism. In the present study, we soughtto determine whether metabolites of alkanes andnaphthalenes could similarly be used as indicators of theintrinsic decomposition of these compounds in petroleum-contaminated aquifers. Such metabolites include succinatederivatives of n-alkanes, cyclic alkanes, and alkylaromatichydrocarbons as well as naphthoic acids. Using gaschromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), we analyzedtrimethylsilyl-derivatized organic extracts from sixhydrocarbon-contaminated groundwaters for MS fragmentions indicative of such anaerobic metabolites. Geochemicalindicators in these aquifers suggested the prevalence ofanaerobic processes. In the groundwaters of thecontaminated sites, we found compounds whose MSprofiles suggested that they were indeed alkylsuccinicacids, ranging from C3 to C11 succinates. Propyl-, hexyl-,octyl-, and decylsuccinic acids were positively identified inthe groundwaters by GC-MS matches with chemical orbiologically produced standards. In two of the aquifers, wealso detected components whose MS profiles matchedwith authentic standards of naphthoic acids and tetrahydronaphthoic acids. Metabolites were detected in nanomolarconcentrations. The finding of these putative anaerobicmetabolites of alkanes and naphthalenes signifies the in situbiodegradation of these hydrocarbons and attests totheir value as indicators of intrinsic bioremediation.