Contaminated site cleanup and environmental stewardship are costly tasks and continued research and innovation can lower the financial burden to site owners and to the taxpayer. A variety of technologies addressing groundwater contamination emerged and have been implemented. Bioremediation takes advantage of naturally occurring microorganisms that detoxify contaminants and in situ implementation of this approach promises to meet cleanup goals at reasonable costs. While biostimulation and bioaugmentation have been successfully applied at numerous sites, the current approaches should be considered brute-force, and more refined treatment (i.e., precision bioremediation) will result in a similar reduction of contaminant concentrations at substantially lower capital investment and lesser environmental impacts. Progress in understanding of the microbiology contributing to chlorinated solvent detoxification under anoxic conditions serves as an example how investments in fundamental research and translational efforts can advance bioremediation from an empirical practice to an approach with predictable outcomes.

Presenter:

Frank E. Löffler, University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (frank.loeffler@utk.edu or 865-974-4933)

• Received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Microbiology in Germany (University of Hohenheim and Technical University Hamburg-Harburg)
• Was awarded a Feodor-Lynen fellow from the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation to conduct research in the Center for Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University (1994-1998)
• Assistant Professor in the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, where was promoted to the ranks of Associate and Full Professor (1999-2010)
• Since 2010, he is Governor's Chair Professor at the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory with appointments in the Department of Microbiology, the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, and ORNL's Biosciences Division.
• Since 2016, he directs the Center for Environmental Biotechnology at the University of Tennessee
• Dr. Löffler has done extensive work in the field of contaminant degradation, and one focal area has been the microbial detoxification of chlorinated solvents in anoxic aquifers.
• Today, he will present new research findings that can ultimately improve in situ bioremediation efforts

Moderator:

Michael Adam, U.S. EPA Technology Innovation and Field Services Division (adam.michael@epa.gov or 703-603-9915)
As a Triad advocate, Mike directed the final production of the Management and Interpretation of Data Under a Triad Approach. For the Technology Innovation Program (TIP), Mike serves as POC for various issues and initiatives such as Vapor Intrusion, Decision Support Tools, and the Measurement and Monitoring Technologies for the 21st Century initiative; and is part of the CLUIN management team. Mike has graduate degrees in Plant Physiology (2000, Iowa State) and Environmental Engineering (2003, Nebraska-Lincoln), and was a staff Research Assistant in Environmental Soil Science at Nebraska-Lincoln before joining the Technology Innovation Program at the EPA in late 2004.

Webinar Slides and References:

• Slide Presentation for Frank E. Loffler, University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (15.9MB/PDF)

Webinar Slides and References:

• Slide Presentation for Frank E. Loffler, University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (15.9MB/PDF)

Additional Resources:

• These materials will be available by Monday, March 13, 2017