CEE Seminar: The Chemical and Microbiological Interface of Organic Pollutant Remediation in Soils

Abstract: The presence and persistence of organic pollutants in soil and groundwater systems threaten the health and quality of life in communities worldwide. Bioremediation using microorganisms has been applied for various contaminants as a sustainable means to detoxify soil and groundwater. Two classes of organic pollutants have particularly benefitted from microbially driven approaches: chlorinated solvents and crude oil. Chlorinated solvents (e.g., trichloroethene) can be reduced to innocuous ethene under anaerobic conditions by a group of specialized bacteria, Dehalococcoides mccartyi. Crude oil components can be oxidized to CO₂ by phylogenetically diverse hydrocarbon-degraders. While these microorganisms are naturally present in most environments, the in situ kinetic rates of natural attenuation are often slow, leading to time frames of decades or longer before contaminated site restoration. Chemical oxidants and reductants could be used in concert with microbial processes to enhance the bioremediation rates or convert contaminants to biodegradable forms. In this seminar, I will discuss fundamental research efforts on microbial kinetics and the chemical and microbiological interface of contaminant removal, leading to informed remedial design or enhanced bioremediation schemes in soil and groundwater.
Bio: Anca Delgado received a Ph.D. in microbiology from Arizona State University and is currently an assistant professor of environmental engineering in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment and the Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology. She is a principal investigator in the NSF-sponsored Center for Bio-Mediated and Bio-Inspired Geotechnics (CBBG). Delgado’s expertise is in soil and groundwater microbial processes that transform or sequester carbon- and chlorine-containing compounds to remediate contaminants and improve soil quality. She is a passionate educator and an enthusiastic mentor to graduate students from environmental engineering and biological sciences.