Variability of biological degradation of phenolic hydrocarbons in an aerobic aquifer determined by laboratory batch experiments

The biological aerobic degradation of 7 phenolic hydrocarbons (phenol, o-cresol, o-nitrophenol, p-nitrophenol, 2,6-dichlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 4,6-o-dichlorocresol) and 1 aromatic hydrocarbon (nitrobenzene) was studied for 149 days in replicate laboratory batch microcosms with sediment and groundwater from 8 localities representing a 15 m × 30 m section of an aerobic aquifer. Three patterns of variation were found: (1) phenol, o-cresol and in most cases p-nitrophenol showed very fast degradation with no or only short lag phases and with very little variation among localities; (2) 2,4-dichlorophenol was degraded in all localities and showed large variability among localities with respect to lag phases (0–50 days) and some variation with respect to degradation periods (20–40 days); and (3) nitrobenzene, o-nitrophenol, 2,6-dichlorophenol and 4,6-o-dichlorocresol showed very large variability among localities ranging from no degradation within 149 days in some localities to degradation within 2 days in other localities. The degradation patterns were highly sequential, indicating a general sequence, for those compounds degradable, valid in all localities. The results are of importance in designing experimental determination of degradation rates and in assigning degradation parameters for use in solute transport models.