ESTCP Project #1011, Rhizosphere
Final Report
Field Demonstration of Rhizosphere-Enhanced Treatment of
Organics-Contaminated Soils on Native American Lands
with Application to Northern FUD Sites
USA Engineer Research and Development Center
Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
April 2004
Purpose of this Document
This report was prepared to document the results of ESTCP project #1011, "Field Demonstration
of Rhizosphere-Enhanced Treatment of Organics-Contaminated Soils on Native American Lands
with Application to Northern FUD Sites". Rhizosphere-enhanced remediation may be a feasible
remediation technology useful as an alternative to more traditional remediation technologies and
applicable at many remote locations. This document describes rhizosphere-enhanced remediation
of petroleum hydrocarbons in northern climates. In these areas, petroleum releases are often the
most prevalent contaminant issue due to widespread petroleum use during the cold war era and
the quantities that were accidentally released during this period.
The document includes a brief review of remediation alternatives that could be used at remote
sites, with a more thorough review and description of rhizosphere-enhanced remediation. The
steps used in implementing rhizosphere-enhanced remediation are presented along with data
from three field demonstration sites.
Rhizosphere-enhanced remediation is a developing technology. It is a subset of
phytoremediation, a term that is often used in a broad sense and sometimes used inappropriately
or too generally because phytoremediation encompasses a wide range of processes. The
operative process in phytoremediation depends largely on the contaminant and can include:
plant uptake and accumulation
plant uptake and biological transformations in the plant
plant uptake and possibly transpiration into the atmosphere
hydrologic control of contaminated groundwater caused by high levels of plant-driven
transpiration
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