Trichloroethylene (TCE) Degraders Engineering Service for Groundwater Remediation

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a widespread and hazardous groundwater contaminant, often resisting conventional treatment. Bioremediation, specifically reductive dechlorination by specialized anaerobic bacteria (like Dehalococcoides), offers a powerful solution to convert TCE into harmless ethene. However, this process is often slow and relies heavily on expensive, manually injected co-substrates (electron donors).

We provide specialized Genetic and Metabolic Engineering services to optimize TCE degradation. Our core strategy involves enhancing the expression and activity of critical Reductive Dehalogenases (RDases) in robust strains (e.g., Dehalococcoides) to accelerate the complete dechlorination of TCE to ethene. Furthermore, we engineer strains to synthesize their own necessary electron donors (like Lactate) from cheap, simple sugars, significantly reducing the cost and complexity of field application for effective groundwater remediation.

Pain Points

The biological remediation of TCE in groundwater faces critical technical and economic barriers:

• Slow Kinetics of Dechlorination: The reductive dechlorination process, particularly the final, rate-limiting steps from cis-DCE and VC to ethene, is often slow, requiring long remediation periods.
• Reliance on Co-Substrates: Anaerobic TCE degraders require an external, continuous supply of electron donors (e.g., Lactate, Molasses) to drive the reductive dechlorination reaction, adding significant operational cost and logistical complexity.
• Incomplete Dechlorination: Strains often stall at intermediate products (e.g., Vinyl Chloride, VC), which is highly toxic and requires complete conversion to ethene for safe remediation.
• Poor Strain Viability: Specialized anaerobic strains like Dehalococcoides are often slow-growing and fastidious, making it difficult to maintain viable populations in the contaminated aquifer.

A successful solution must improve the speed and completeness of the reaction while ensuring a stable, cost-effective supply of electron donors.

Solutions

We apply advanced Genetic and Metabolic Engineering to create highly effective TCE remediation platforms:

Enhanced RDase Expression and Activity

     

Engineer strains to highly express and improve the catalytic activity of key Reductive Dehalogenases (RDases) responsible for the complete conversion of TCE to ethene.

In Situ Electron Donor Production

Engineer the TCE degrader or a co-culture helper strain to metabolize cheap, simple sugars and internally produce the necessary electron donors (e.g., Lactate), eliminating external feeding.

Intermediate Toxicity Tolerance

Enhance the strain's tolerance to the toxic intermediates (e.g., Vinyl Chloride, VC) and accelerate the expression of the RDases responsible for their rapid final breakdown.

Genetic Stability and Viability Enhancement

Optimize the strain's core metabolism for robust growth and long-term genetic stability in the nutrient-poor, subsurface environment.

Our systematic strategy ensures complete and rapid TCE degradation with a reduced long-term operational cost.

Advantages

Our TCE Degraders Engineering service offers the following key benefits for groundwater remediation:

Accelerated Dechlorination Rate

Enhanced RDase activity significantly speeds up the conversion of TCE and the toxic intermediates (DCE, VC) to ethene.

Complete Conversion to Ethene

Engineered strains eliminate the risk of stalling at toxic intermediates (VC), ensuring full, safe remediation.

Reduced Operational Cost

Internal production of electron donors from cheap sugars drastically reduces the long-term cost of co-substrate injection.

Robust Field Performance

Optimized metabolism ensures the viability and colonization ability of the specialized strains in the subsurface environment.

Sustainable Solution

Offers a green, in situ method that permanently detoxifies the groundwater, avoiding mass excavation or pump-and-treat methods.

We provide a specialized platform for robust, highly efficient biological remediation of Trichloroethylene and other chlorinated solvents in groundwater.

Process

Our TCE Degraders Engineering service follows a rigorous, multi-stage research workflow:

• Strain Selection and RDase Target Identification: Select a suitable host (e.g., Dehalococcoides) and identify the specific RDase genes responsible for the rate-limiting steps (VC to ethene).
• RDase Overexpression and Activity Enhancement: Use genetic engineering to increase the copy number and catalytic efficiency of the key RDases.
• Electron Donor Pathway Integration: Introduce and optimize metabolic pathways in the host (or a co-culture partner) to produce electron donors (e.g., Lactate) from simple, cheap sugars.
• Contaminant Degradation Validation: Test the engineered strains in anaerobic column or batch reactors, measuring the dechlorination rate from TCE to the final product, ethene.
• Field Viability and Stability Analysis: Assess the engineered strain's survival and long-term genetic stability under simulated groundwater conditions.
• Result Report Output: Deliver a detailed report including engineered strain data, inoculation protocols, and final validated TCE dechlorination rate and ethene yield metrics.

Technical communication is maintained throughout the process, focusing on timely feedback regarding dechlorination kinetics and donor utilization efficiency.

Explore the potential for a fast, cost-effective in situ TCE remediation. We provide customized microbial solutions:

• Detailed Dechlorination Rate and Ethene Yield Analysis Report, demonstrating complete conversion to the harmless final product.
• Consultation on injection strategy and electron donor sourcing (e.g., molasses or whey for in situ production).
• Experimental reports include complete raw data on the transient levels of toxic intermediates (DCE, VC) and the long-term viability of the engineered strain in sand matrices.