Use of GreenZyme® for remediation of porous media polluted with jet fuel JP-5

ABSTRACT

Jet fuel may be released in the environment either by in-flight fuel jettisoning (fuel dumping) or accidentally from spills and leaks, and eventually can reach subsurface formations where it can remain as long-term source of pollution. Remediation of aquifers contaminated by jet fuels is not a trivial task. This experimental study examined the effectiveness of a water-soluble, DNA–protein-based biodegradable non-living catalyst, with commercial name GreenZyme® for the remediation of water saturated porous media polluted with jet fuel (JP-5). Also for comparison purposes, the commercial surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was used. Bench scale experiments were conducted in a glass column packed with glass beads. The migration of JP-5 in the glass column under various conditions, with and without the presence of GreenZyme® was monitored by a well-established photographic method. Digital photographs of the packed column were captured under fluorescent lighting. The fluorescent intensity of JP-5 dyed with Red Oil O within the column was analyzed using the Matlab Image Processing Toolbox. The colour intensities were converted to concentrations via appropriate calibration curves. The experimental results suggested that GreenZyme® was an efficient biosurfactant capable of enhancing significantly the migration of JP-5 in the glass column, which performed considerably better that SDS under the experimental conditions of this study.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Jet fuel
• porous media
• remediation
• enzymes
• mobilization

Acknowledgements

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The authors are thankful to M. Georgopoulou and R. Sarika for their thoughtful comments and suggestions, to G. Pamfilis for constructing the light table, to S. Manoudakis for his help with MATLAB programming, to Lucas Evangelista and Apollo Separation Technologies Inc. for donating the GreenZyme®, and to Cp. Paris Koutsoudis of Greek Navy for donating the jet fuel JP-5.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.