The use of BioElectrochemical Systems (BESs) to remediate and monitor contamination in groundwater plumes.

The application of BioElectrochemcial Systems to the remediation of waste water and contaminant plumes in groundwater has long been recognised. The scaling up of such systems from lab to pilot or field study can be a difficult procedure due to a focus on power output rather than remediation efficiency. Here we present a conceptual model of a groundwater plume at a gasworks site and show how the BES can be designed to primarily manage the risks with associated with groundwater contamination. We present a series of lab studies using contaminated groundwater from the centre and fringe of the contaminant gasworks plume and highlight degradation efficiency of the BES compared with a series of controls. Electrical output of the BES was monitored over time with analysis of the contaminants by GCxGC FID, and assessment of microbial ecology of the gasworks groundwaters and BES systems using 16S sequencing. We show the design of a field scale system that can be used to monitor degradation in near real time.