BIOREMEDIATION OF SEDIMENT CONTAMINATED WITH DECABROMODIPHENYL ETHER (BDE-209) BY COMPOSTING

In the present research, bioremediation of sediment contaminated with decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) at 2 mg/kg (dw) using composting technology under four treatments was investigated. After 78 days, 87.9 +/- 4.3%, 96.3 +/- 3.3%, 95.7 +/- 1.6%, and 95.5 +/- 3.1% of the BDE-209 had been removed in treatments of sediment plus cabbage (treatment A); sediment plus cabbage, activated sludge, and sawdust (treatment B); sediment plus cabbage, co-metabolizable substances, and sawdust (treatment C); and sediment plus cabbage and sawdust (treatment D), respectively. Adding sawdust as an ameliorant slightly improved the BDE-209 degradation efficiency relative to adding only cabbage. The addition of TBBPA/HBCD (as co-metabolizable substances), and activated sludge (to provide exogenous microbes) did not significantly enhance the bioremediation process. A total of 15 additional less-brominated PBDEs congeners were detected demonstrated that BDE-209 was debrominated during the composting process. The results suggest that composting is an effective way of bioremediating sediment containing B DE-209.