Bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons‐contaminated soil by bacterial consortium isolated from an industrial wastewater treatment plant. Issue 7 (18th September 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gargouri, Boutheina; Karray, Fatma; Mhiri, Najla; Aloui, Fathi; Sayadi, Sami
• Is Part Of: Journal of chemical technology & biotechnology. Volume 89:Issue 7(2014:Jul.)
• Page Start: 978
• Page End: 987
• Publication Date: 2013-09-18
• Subjects: Biotechnology -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Technical -- Periodicals; Chemical engineering -- Periodicals; Industries -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; 660
• DOI: 10.1002/jctb.4188
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0268-2575

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="jctb4188-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="jctb4188-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>BACKGROUND</title> <p id="jctb4188-para-0001"> <bold>Bioaugmentation is a promising technology to clean up sites contaminated by the petrochemical industry. The paper reports on the bioremediation of a refinery soil containing hydrocarbons in a semi‐arid climate and its impact on the soil microbial community. Two trial plots were established in autumn 2008 to compare two sets of conditions. The first trial is a control (contaminated soil with indigenous microorganismes) and the second is a trial where an acclimatized bacterial consortium was added</bold>.</p> </sec> <sec id="jctb4188-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>RESULTS</title> <p id="jctb4188-para-0002"> <bold>The proposed bioremediation technology resulted in significantly higher hydrocarbons removal efficiencies than the control. The total amount of petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) was decreased from 63.4 mg g<sup>−1</sup> to 2.5 mg g<sup>−1</sup> at the end of the treatment. The treated soil could be considered non‐phytotoxic since the germination index of <italic>Lepidium sativum</italic> ranged between 80 and 115%. Further, a GC/MS profile proved that the acclimatized bacterial consortium could effectively remove medium‐ and long‐chain alkanes in the contaminated soil after a 30‐day treatment period. Microbial community analysis (16S rRNA and Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprints) confirmed the dominance of hydrocarbon degrading genera such as actinobacteria and gamma‐proteobacteria phyla</bold>.</p> </sec> <sec id="jctb4188-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>CONCLUSION</title> <p id="jctb4188-para-0003"> <bold>These results show that bioaugmentation may be a suitable tool for the remediation of soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry</bold> </p> </sec> </abstract>