Degradation of monoethanolamine in soil

Abstract

Monoethanolamines (MEA) are commonly used by the natural gas industry to remove acid gases from the natural gas stream. A series of pan studies was conducted to examine the biodegradability of MEA in soil recovered from a gas plant site under various environmental conditions. Experimental results indicate that MEA was successfully biodegraded or transformed into other compounds under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions even at concentrations greater than 1500 mg/kg. Ammonium, acetate, and nitrogen gas were the dominant by-products in these experiments. The generation of nitrogen gas suggests that simultaneous nitrification and denitrification occurred because of the existence of anoxic zones resulting from diffusion limited oxygen transport into the soils. Cold temperatures (5 °C) reduced the biodegradation rates significantly compared to rates at room temperature. Key words: bioremediation, monoethanolamine, ammonia, acetate, pan study, cold temperature.