• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.85-96
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to Investigate the effect of environmental conditions on the degradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons(TPH) in soil. The soil used for this study was sandy loam. Target contaminant, diesel oil, was spiked at 10.000mgTPH/kg dry soil. Moisture content was controlled to 50%, 70%, and 90% of field capacity of the soil. Temperature was controlled to $5^{\circ}C$, $10^{\circ}C$, $20^{\circ}C$, and $30^{\circ}C$. The active degradation of TPH was observed at the moisture contents of 50% and 70% of field capacity, and temperature of $10^{\circ}C$ to $30^{\circ}C$. Degradation rate of n-alkanes was about two times greater than that of TPH. Volatilization loss of TPH was about 2% of initial concentration. Biocide control and no aeration experiments indicated that removal of TPH was primarily occurred by biodegradation under aerobic condition.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.659-663
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• 2009

Bacterial stain 3Y was isolated from a site that was contaminated with diesel for more than 15 years. The strain could grow on various petroleum using hydrocarbons as the sole carbon source. The strain grew not only on aliphatic hydrocarbons but also on aromatic hydrocarbons. 3Y grew on aliphatic petroleum hydrocarbons hexane or hexadecane, and aromatic petroleum hydrocarbons BTEX, phenol, biphenyl, or phenanthrene. The strain showed aromatic ring dioxygenase and meta-cleavage dioxygenase activities as determined by tests using indole and catechol. Aromatic ring dioxygenase is involved in the initial step of biodegradation of aromatic hydrocarbons while meta-cleavage dioxygenase catalyzes the cleavage of the benzene ring. Based on a nucleotide sequence analysis of its 16S rRNA gene, 3Y belongs to the genus Sphingomonas. A phylogenetic tress was constructed based on the nucleotide sequences of closest relatives of 3Y and petroleum hydrocarbon degrading sphingomonads. 3Y was in a cluster that was different from the cluster that contained well-known sphingomonads. The results of this study suggest that 3Y has the potential to cleanup oil-contaminated sites. Further investigation is warranted to optimize conditions to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons by the strain to develop a better bioremediation strategy.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.938-943
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• 2007

Anaerobic degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in a soil artificially contaminated with 10,000 mg/kg soil of diesel fuel was tested by adding an anaerobic sludge taken from a sludge digestion tank. Treatments of soil(50 g) with 15 mL/kg soil and 30 mL/kg soil of the digestion sludge(2,000 mg/L of vss(volatile suspended solids)) showed 37.2% and 58.0% of total petroleum hydrocarbons(TPH) removal during 90 days incubation, respectively. In evaluation of several anaerobic conditions including nitrate reducing, sulfate reducing, methanogenic, and mixed electron accepters condition, treatments with the digested sludge showed significant degradation of diesel fuel under all anaerobic conditions compare to a control treatment of soil without the sludge and a treatment of autoclaved soil treatment with autoclaved digestion sludge. The rate of diesel fuel degradation was the highest in the treatment with the sludge and mixed electron accepters (75% removal of TPH) for 120 days incubation followed in order by sulfate reducing, nitrate reducing, methanogenic condition as 67%, 53%, 43%, respectively. However, the removal rate of non-biodegradable isoprenoid was the highest in the sulfate reducing condition. These results suggest that anaerobic degradation of diesel fuel in soil with digested sludge is effective for practical remediation of soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.721-730
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• 2006

The effects of compost amendment on the removal of petroleum hydrocarbons and the activities of microorganisms in soil ecosystem have been studied in bioremediation of diesel contaminated soil. The relation between biological activities and removal of petroleun hydrocarbon was determined by ATP(Adenisine Triphosphate), n-alkanes and TPH concentration analysis. After 80 days of bioremediation, the removal of TPH in soil amended with compost increased more than 10% compared with control soil which was tilled in the same condition without compost addition. The biodegradations of n-alkanes having 12 to 20 moles of carbon were distinctive. As the soil was contaminated with more diesel, the ATP has decreased rapidly. When the TPH amounted to 80,000 mg diesel/kg, the ATP decreased to 4 ng/g from initial concentration of 65 ng/g. While the ATP in the compost amended soil increased to 112 ng/g after tilling for 6 days, the ATP in the control increased to merely 36 ng/g after tilling for 14 days. Also while the control soil showed a lag time in ATP increase, the compost amended soil did not show that but showed a rapid ATP increase within a short time. The patterns of changes in ATP concentration were similar to those in daily removals of TPH with time difference of about 7 days.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.45-53
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• 1998

The purpose of this study was to evaluate effects of initial concentration and nutrients in treatment of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soils. The reactor used in this study was slurry-phase bioreactor of in-vessel type. Performance results on treatment of diesel fuel contaminated soils and micorbial growth were generated at the bench-scale level. The fate of TPH(Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon) and the microbial growth were evaluated in combination with biodegradation rate. Effect of initial loading levels of 50,000 and 100,000mg TPH/kg soil was studied. Performance results with two reactors were showed at the total TPH removal rate of 90.5% and 90.8%, respectively. However, the reactor with the initial concentration of 50,000mg TPH/kg soil showed higher biological TPH removal efficiency except for removal by volatilization than the other Although the different amount of nutrients was applied in two reactors, there was no remarkable difference in microbial growth rate. However, considerable factor in this results was that applied different initial concentration to two reactors. Although initial concentration was two times higher than it applied to the reactor without addition of nutrients, in total and biological TPH removal rate the reactor with addition of nutrients showed a higher than the other.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.664-671
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• 2011

The vacuum residue of petroleum refinery, i.e. asphalt, was modified through a non-catalytic air blowing process to prepare the semi-blown asphalt. Changes in composition, chemical structure, and physical properties of asphalt were examined. The result from the thin layer chromatography showed that the asphaltene content in asphalt was increased by the air blowing on account of the aromatization of aliphatic hydrocarbon and condensation. These changes in molecular structure were also confirmed by $^1H-NMR$, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetry. Because of the molecular structure changes, the penetration of asphalt was decreased and the softening point and the flash point of asphalt were increased.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.79-84
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• 2008

This paper describes the application of bioluminescence stimulating agents on a genetically engineered microorganism, Pseudomonas putida mt-2 KG1206, to monitor toluene analogs using in groundwater samples from petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated sites. The maximum bioluminescent response with pure chemicals followed in the order: m-methyl benzyl alchohol > m-toluate > toluene > m-xylene > benzoate > p-xylene > o-xylene. Generally, the bioluminescence production of strain mixed with groundwater samples was dependent on the contaminated total inducer concentrations. However, few samples showed opposite results, where these phenomena may be caused by the complexicity of environmental samples. Two chemicals, SL(sodium lactate) and KNO$_3$, were tested to determine a better bioluminescence stimulant. Both chemicals stimulate the bioluminescence activity of strain KG1206, however, a slightly high bioluminescence was observed with nitrogen chemical. This selected stimulant was then tested on samples collected from contaminated groundwater samples. The bioluminescence activity of all samples mixed with the strain was stimulated with KNO$_3$ amendment. This suggests that the low bioluminescence activity exhibited by the environmental groundwater samples can be stimulated by amending the culture with a proper agent, such as nitrogen compound. These findings would be useful, especially, when strain was used to monitor the groundwater samples contaminated with low inducer contaminants. Overall, the results of this study found the ability of bioluminescence producing bacteria to biosensor a specific group of environmental contaminants, and suggest the potential for more efficient preliminary application of this engineered strain in a field-ready bioassay.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.23-30
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• 1997

The purpose of this study was to evaluate effects of solids content and mixing speed in treatment of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soils using a slurry-phase bioreactor. Performance results on slurry-phase bioremediation of diesel fuel contaminated soil were generated at the bench-scale level. The fate of TPH(Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon) was evaluated in combination with biological treatment. Abiotic and biotic fate of the TPH were determined using soil not previously exposed to compounds in diesel fuel. The reactor volume for given throughput can be reduced by maximizing the solids content. Applications of 50% and 20% solids content(dry weight basis) were showed a little difference(57.5% : 61.6%) in biological TPH removal rate each other. Mixing and particle suspension are critical to desorption and biological degradation. In this standpoint, this study was performed using two mixing speed. When the reactor was operated at 70rpm, it had a better result in the particle suspension and TPH removal rate than the reactor with mixer rotated at 20rpm. In the reactor applied 20rpm, it was resulted in failure of particle suspension.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.25-32
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• 2010

Contamination of soil and groundwater by the compounds of hydrocarbon petroleum has been widely accepted as the main cause that harms the environments and health. To remove those pollutants, absorbing clothes, activated carbons, or oil-water separation devices with the gravity method are employed for treatment. However, those materials and devices cannot remove the emulsion pollutants despite of their efficiency for removing free products. Therefore, we investigated the problems which occur during the groundwater treatment for the highly concentrated suspended solid particles, which can be resulted from excavation, and to propose methods to remove TPH(Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon). After coagulation experiment with high molecular polymers, the concentration of SS(Suspended Solids) and COD(Chemical Oxygen Demand) turned to satisfy the groundwater quality criteria within 5 minutes while the concentration of TPH failed to meet the water quality standard of effluent. Consequently, the water quality criteria for effluent could not be met by single DAF(Dissolved Air Flotation) process. However all water quality criteria could be satisfied after 20 minutes when coagulation reactions are carried out simultaneously in the DAF reactor.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.185-195
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• 2006

Phytoremediation is an economical and environmentally friendly bioremediation technique using plants which can increase the microbial population in soil. Unlike other pollutants such as heavy metals, poly-chlorinated biphenyl, trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene and so on, petroleum hydrocarbons are relatively easily degradable by soil microbes. For successful phytoremediation of soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons, it is important to select plants with high removal efficiency through microbial degradation. In this study, we clarified the roles of plants and rhizobacteria and identified their species effective on phytore-mediation by reviewing the papers previously reported. Plants and rhizobacteria can degrade and remove the petroleum hydrocarbons directly and indirectly by stimulating each other's degradation activity. The preferred plant species are alfalfa, ryegrass, tall fescue, poplar, corn, etc. The microorganisms with a potential to degrade hydrocarbons mostly belong to Pseudomonas spp., Bacillus spp., and Alcaligenes spp. It has been reported that the elimination efficiency of hydrocarbons by soil microorganisms can be improved when plants were simultaneously applied. For more efficient restoration, it's necessary to understand the plant-rhizobacteria interaction and to select the suitable plant and microorganism species.