Premium
Bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons‐contaminated soil by bacterial consortium isolated from an industrial wastewater treatment plant
Author(s) -
Gargouri Boutheina,
Karray Fatma,
Mhiri Najla,
Aloui Fathi,
Sayadi Sami
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of chemical technology and biotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1097-4660
pISSN - 0268-2575
DOI - 10.1002/jctb.4188
Subject(s) - bioremediation , bioaugmentation , environmental remediation , total petroleum hydrocarbon , actinobacteria , temperature gradient gel electrophoresis , soil contamination , biostimulation , phytoremediation , environmental science , environmental chemistry , microbial population biology , microbial consortium , petroleum , contamination , waste management , chemistry , soil water , microorganism , biology , bacteria , 16s ribosomal rna , ecology , organic chemistry , soil science , engineering , heavy metals , genetics
BACKGROUND 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 . RESULTS 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 −1 to 2.5 mg g −1 at the end of the treatment. The treated soil could be considered non‐phytotoxic since the germination index of Lepidium sativum 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 . CONCLUSION These results show that bioaugmentation may be a suitable tool for the remediation of soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry