Preliminary investigations into biological processes of natural attenuation of carbon disulphide

CS₂ is an extremely volatile, dense, nonaqueous-phase liquid that has been found to be a free-phase and dissolved contaminant of concern on a significant number of contaminated sites. Microcosm experiments were set up using both natural soil recovered from a CS₂-contaminated site and the same soil sterilized by boiling and oven drying. A variety of nutrient solutions were added to each microcosm to encourage microbial growth. CS₂ degradation occurs to a greater extent in microcosms containing natural soil than in microcosms containing sterilized soil, indicating that this degradation is at least partly due to biological processes. This degradation was observed within a timescale of 4-6 wk. Degradation rates were much higher than originally anticipated and vary depending on whether electron acceptors and/or nutrients are added to microcosms. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 8th International In Situ and On-Site Bioremediation Symposium (Baltimore, MD 6/6-9/2005).