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Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Development of Sulfidogenic Sludge from Marine Sediments and Trichloroethylene Reduction in an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor
Published on: October 15, 2015
Geochemistry and microbial diversity of a trichloroethene-contaminated Superfund site undergoing intrinsic in situ
Mary Lowe1, Eugene L Madsen, Karen Schindler
1Physics Department, Loyola College, Baltimore, MD 21210, USA.
Abstract:
This study explored the geochemistry and microbial diversity of a Superfund site containing trichloroethene (TCE) and an unusual co-pollutant, tetrakis(2-ethylbutoxy)silane. Geochemical analysis of contaminated groundwater indicated subsurface anaerobiosis, reductive dechlorination of TCE to predominantly cis-1,2-dichloroethene, and (transient) accumulation of 2-ethylbutanol and 2-ethylbutyrate as a result of tetrakis(2-ethylbutoxy)silane breakdown. Comparative analysis of 106 16S rDNA and 61 16S-23S rDNA intergenic spacer region sequences - obtained from pristine and contaminated groundwater via DNA extraction, PCR amplification, cloning and sequencing - revealed that the contaminated groundwater featured (i) a distinct microbial community, (ii) reduced species diversity, (iii) various anaerobes, and (iv) bacteria closely related to the TCE-dechlorinating, dichloroethene-accumulating genus Dehalobacter, whereas (v) the TCE-dechlorinating, ethene-producing species Dehalococcoides ethenogenes was not detectable. Thus, geochemical and molecular biological results were in excellent agreement in this first ecological field study linking in situ reductive dechlorination of TCE to metabolism of tetraalkoxysilanes.
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