Chemotaxis Increases the Residence Time of Bacteria in Granular Media Containing Distributed Contaminant Sources

Abstract

The use of chemotactic bacteria in bioremediation has the potential to increase access to, and the biotransformation of, contaminant mass within the subsurface. This laboratory-scale study aimed to understand and quantify the influence of chemotaxis on the residence times of pollutant-degrading bacteria within homogeneous treatment zones. Focus was placed on a continuous-flow sand-packed column in which a uniform distribution of naphthalene crystals created distributed sources of dissolved-phase contaminant. A 10 mL pulse of Pseudomonas putida G7, which is chemotactic to naphthalene, and Pseudomonas putida G7 Y1, a nonchemotactic mutant strain, were simultaneously introduced into the sand-packed column at equal concentrations. Breakthrough curves obtained from experiments conducted with and without naphthalene were used to quantify the effect of chemotaxis on transport parameters. In the presence of the chemoattractant, longitudinal dispersion of PpG7 increased by a factor of 3, and percent recovery decreased by 43%. In contrast, PpG7 Y1 transport was not influenced by the presence of naphthalene. The results imply that pore-scale chemotaxis responses are evident at an interstitial velocity of 1.8 m/day, which is within the range of typical groundwater flow. Within the context of bioremediation, chemotaxis may work to enhance bacterial residence times in zones of contamination, thereby improving treatment.