• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.14 no.5
• /
• pp.901-905
• /
• 2004

The degradation and mineralization of crude oil were investigated over 50-days in three soils, loamy sand, sand, and combusted loamy, which were artificially contaminated with crude oil (50 g $kg^{-1}$) and inoculated with Nocardia sp. H17-1. The degradation efficiency of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) in sand was the highest at 76% among the three soils. The TPH degradation rate constants $(k_{TPH})$ in loamy sand, sand, and combusted loamy sand were 0.027 $d^{-1}$, 0.063 $d^{-1}$, and 0.016 $d^{-1}$, respectively. In contrast, the total amount of $CO_2$ evolved was the highest at 146.1 mmol in loamy sand. The $CO_2$ evolution rate constants (k_{CO2})$ in loamy sand, sand, and combusted loamy sand were 0.057 $d^{-1}$, 0.066 $d^{-1}$, and 0.037 $d^{-1}$, respectively. Therefore, it seems that the degradation of crude oil in soils can be proportional to the soil pore space and that mineralization can be accelerated with the increase of organic substance.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.17 no.5
• /
• pp.479-484
• /
• 2008

The application of microwave technology has been investigated in the remediation of diesel-contaminated soil. The paper deals with economic assessment by means of cost analysis and degradation characteristics at different microwave powers for total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) in diesel contaminated soils. The soils from S Mountain around the D University were sampled. The samples were screened with 2.0 mm mesh and dried for 6 hours before the diesel was added into the dried soils. The diesel-contaminated soil (3,300 mg THP/kg soil) was prepared with diesel (S Co.). The drying process was carried out in a microwave oven, a standard household appliance with a 2,450 MHz frequency and 700 W of power. The experiments were conducted from 0 to 20 minutes as the microwave powers increased from 350W to 500W to 700W. The concentrations of TPH were analysed using a gas chromatography/mass spectrometer (GC/MS). The initial concentration of TPH was 3,300 mg TPH/kg soil. The weight of contaminated soil was 200g. The concentration of TPH was decreased to 1,828 mg TPH/kg soil (44.7%), 1,347 mg TPH/kg soil (59.2%) and 1,014 mg TPH/kg soil (69.3%) at 350W, 500W and 700W for 15 minutes respectively. In addition, the curve was best fit with first order kinetics using the least-square method. The ranges of a first order rate constant k and r-square were $0.0298{\sim}0.0375min^{-1}$ and $0.9373{\sim}0.9541$ respectively.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.408-412
• /
• 2003

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Influence of oil concentration and inoculum size on petroleum biodegradation in soil by Nocardia sp. H17-1, isolated from oil-contaminated soil. To investigate the effect of initial oil concentration on total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) degradation, the soil was artificially contaminated with 10, 50 or 100 g of Arabian light oil per kg of soil, respectively. After 50 days, Nocardia sp. H17-1 degraded 78,94 and 53% of the each initial TPH concentration, respectively. Also, it produced 1.35, 4.21, and 5.91 mmol of $CO_2$ per g of soil, respectively. The degradation rate constant (k) of TPH was decreased in proportion to the initial oil concentrations while $CO_2$ production was increased with the concentration. The growth of Nocardia sp. H17-1 was remarkably inhibited when it was inoculated into soil containing 100 g of oil per kg of soil. To evaluate the effect of the inoculum size, the soil was artificially contaminated with 50 g of Arabian light oil per kg of soil, and inoculated with $3${\times}$10^{6}$ , $5${\times}$10^{7}$ , $2${\times}$10^{8}$ cells per g of soil, respectively. After 50 days, the degradation of TPH was remained with similar in all treatment but degradation rate constant (k) and evolved $CO_2$ was increased with increasing the inoculum size.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.268-273
• /
• 2015

BACKGROUND: Petroleum-contaminated soil from leaking above- and underground storage tanks and spillage during transport of petroleum products is widespread environmental problem in recent years. Application of compost may be the most promising, cost-effective, and eco-friendly technology for soil bioremediation because of its advantages over physical and chemical technology. The objective of this study was to evaluate effect of compost application on degradation of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) in petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soil.METHOD AND RESULTS: An arable soil was artificially contaminated by diesel, and compost was applied at the different rate of 0, 10, 30, and 50 Mg/ha. Concentration of TPH in the soil decreased as application rate of compost increased. Degradation efficiency was highest at compost 30 Mg/ha; however, it slightly decreased with compost 50 Mg/ha. Kinetic modeling was performed to estimate the rates of chemical reaction. The correlation coefficient (R2) values for the linear plots using the second-order model were higher than those using the first-oder model. Compost 30 and 50 Mg/ha had the fastest TPH degradation rate in the second-order model. Change of microbial population in soil with compost application was similar to that of TPH. Microbial population in the soil increased as application rate of compost increased. Increasing microbial population in the contaminated soil corresponded to decreased in TPH concentration.CONCLUSION: Conclusively, compost application for soil bioremediation could be an effective response to petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soil. The increase in microbial population with compost suggested that compost application at an optimum rate might enhance degradation of TPH in soil.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.132-139
• /
• 2002

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of aging and soil texture on composting of diesel-contaminated soil. The soils used for this study were silt loam and sand. Target contaminant, diesel oil, was spiked at 10,000mgTPH/kg of dry soil. Aging times of diesel-contaminated soils were 15days and 60days, respectively. Fresh diesel-contaminated soil was also investigated. Moisture content was controlled to 70% of soil field capacity. Mix ratio of soil to sludge was 1:0.3 as wet weight basis. Temperature was maintained at $20^{\circ}C$ Volatilization loss of TPH was below 2% of initial concentration. n-Alkanes lost by volatilization were mainly by the compounds of C10 to C17. Diesel in contaminated soil was mainly removed by biodegradation mechanism. First order degradation rate constant of TPH in sandy soil was ranged from 0.081 to 0.094/day, which is higher than that in silt loam(0.056-0.061/day). From fresh to 60day-aged soils, there was little difference of TPH biodegradation rate between the soils. Carbon recovery ranged from 0.61 to 0.89. TPH degradation rate was highly correlated with $CO_2$ production rate.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.47-51
• /
• 2015

Biocatalytic degradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) in contaminated soil by hemoglobin and hydrogen peroxide is an effective soil remediation method. This study used a laboratory soil reactor experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of a nonspecific biocatalytic reaction with hemoglobin and H₂O₂ for treating TPH-contaminated soil. We also quantified changes in the soil microbial community using real-time PCR analysis during the experimental treatment. The results show that the measured rate constant for the reaction with added hemoglobin was 0.051/day, about 3.5 times higher than the constant for the reaction with only H₂O₂ (0.014/day). After four weeks of treatment, 76% of the initial soil TPH concentration was removed with hemoglobin and hydrogen peroxide treatment. The removal of initial soil TPH concentration was 26% when only hydrogen peroxide was used. The soil microbial community, based on 16S rRNA gene copy number, was higher (7.1 × 10⁶ copy number/g of bacteria, and 7.4 × 10⁵ copy number/g of Archaea, respectively) in the hemoglobin catalyzed treatment. Our results show that TPH treatment in contaminated soil using hemoglobin catalyzed oxidation led to the enhanced removal effectiveness and was non-toxic to the native soil microbial community in the initial soil.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.339-345
• /
• 2009

We evaluated the activity and abundance of the crude-oil-degrading bacterium Nocardia sp. H17-1 during bioremediation of oil-contaminated soil, using real-time PCR. The total petroleum hydrocarbon(TPH) degradation rate constants(k) of the soils treated with and without H17-1 were $0.103\;d^{-1}$ and $0.028\;d^{-1}$ respectively. The degradation rate constant was 3.6 times higher in the soil with H17-1 than in the soil without H17-1. In order to detect and quantify the Nocardia sp. H17-1 in soil samples, we quantified the genes encoding 16S ribosomal RNA(16S rRNA), alkane monooxygenase(alkB4), and catechol 2,3-dioxygenase(23CAT) with real-time PCR using SYBR green. The amounts of H17-1 16S rRNA and alkB4 detected increased rapidly up to 1,000-folds for the first 10 days, and then continued to increase only slightly or leveled off. However, the abundance of the 23CAT gene detected in H17-1-treated soil, where H17-1 had neither the 23CAT gene for the degradation of aromatic hydrocarbons nor the catechol 2,3-dioxygenase activity, did not differ significantly from that of the untreated soil($\alpha$=0.05,p>0.22). These results indicated that H17-1 is a potential candidate for the bioaugmentation of alkane-contaminated soil. Overall, we evaluated the abundance and metabolic activity of the bioremediation strain H17-1 using real-time PCR, independent of cultivation.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.70-76
• /
• 2001

Proper design and improvement of the biofiltration process depend upon quantitative understanding of the kinetic behavior in the biofilter. This study was conducted to evaluate kinetics of biofiltration of gasoline vapor. Filling material of the biofilter was compost. Gas inlet concentration ranged from about $300mg/m^3$ to $7,000mg/m^3$. Gas velocities were 6m/hr and 15m/hr, respectively. At 6m/hr gas velocity, about 60% of gasoline TPH below $3,000mg/m^3$ was removed in the lower quarter part of the biofilter. First order kinetics described well the degradation rate of gasoline TPH with high correlation. First order kinetic removal constant at the gas velocity of 6m/hr was higher than that of 15m/hr from about $300mg/m^3$ to $7,000mg/m^3$. When the inlet concentration was over $3,000mg/m^3$, first order kinetic removal constant at the gas velocity of 6m/hr was over twice that at 15m/hr. In order to obtain over 80% of removal efficiency, gasoline vapor should be injected into the biofilter at concentration below about $2,000mg/m^3$, 100cm filling height and the gas velocity of 6m/hr.

• Advances in environmental research
• /
• v.2 no.3
• /
• pp.229-243
• /
• 2013

Coagulation-flocculation (CF) was tested coupled with an aerobic biofilter to reduce total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPHs) concentration and toxicity from petrochemical wastewater. The efficiency of the process was followed using turbidity and chemical oxygen demand (COD). The biofilter was packed with a basaltic waste (tezontle) and inoculated with a bacterial consortium. Toxicity test were carried out using Lactuca sativa var. capitata seeds. Best results for turbidity removal were obtained using alum. Considerable turbidity removal was obtained when using Opuntia spp. COD removal with alum was 25%, for Opuntia powder it was 36%. The application of the biofilter allowed the removal of 70% of the remaining TPHs after 30 days with a biodegradation rate (BDR) value 47 $mgL^{-1}d^{-1}$. COD removal was slightly higher with BDR value 63 $mgL^{-1}d^{-1}$. TPH kinetics allowed a degradation rate constant equal to $4.05{\times}10^{-2}d^{-1}$. COD removal showed similar trend with $k=4.23{\times}10^{-2}d^{-1}$. Toxicity reduction was also successfully achieved by the combined treatment process.