Carbon isotope fractionation during abiotic reductive dehalogenation of trichloroethene (TCE)

Dehalogenation of trichloroethene (TCE) in the aqueous phase, either on palladium catalysts with hydrogen as the reductant or on metallic iron, was associated with strong changes in delta C-13. In general, the delta C-13 of product phases were more negative than those of the parent compound and were enriched with time and fraction of TCE remaining. For dehalogenation with iron, the delta (13) C of TCE and products varied from -42 parts per thousand. to + 5 parts per thousand. For the palladium experiments, the final product, ethane, reached the initial delta C-13 of TCE at completion of the dehalogenation reaction. During dehalogenation, the carbon isotope fractionation between TCE and product phases was not constant. The variation in delta C-13 of TCE and products offers a new monitoring tool that operates independently of the initial concentration of pollutants for abiotic degradation processes of TCE in the subsurface, and may be useful for evaluation of remediation efficiency. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.