[Process fundamentals and field demonstration of wheat straw enhanced salt leaching of petroleum contaminated farmland].

A new remediation method for petroleum-salt contaminated soil was proposed, in which wheat straw was applied to enhance salt leaching and meanwhile block salt upmovement along the soil capillary. It was shown that the existence of petroleum increased the surface hydrophobicity of soil and thus hindered the leaching process once the oil content was above 1.5% (mass fraction). The application of 5% (mass fraction) wheat straw into the soil increased the efficiency of salt leaching from 3% to 25%. The effectiveness of wheat straw layer in inhibiting the salt upmovement along the soil capillary was also proven. Field test of this method was carried out in an area of 6400 m2, in which wheat straw layer of 5 cm was distributed in the depth of 25 cm. After 50 days, 80% of the testing area showed a normal soil electronic conductivity (soil EC <5 mS x cm(-1)) in contrast to 17% before leaching process. The concentrations of Na+ and Cl- were decreased from 1642.5 mg x kg(-1) and 1 301.2 mg x kg(-1) to 499.3 mg x kg(-1) and 433.8 mg x kg(-1), respectively. The remediated land upon the implementation of wheat straw gave a 72% of the regular wheat production obtained from the normal farmland, while the control land without wheat straw gave 12%. These results demonstrated the effectiveness and the high potential of using wheat straw for the salt leaching in remediation of petroleum-salt contaminated soil.

[Process fundamentals and field demonstration of wheat straw enhanced biodegradation of petroleum].

A new bioaugmentation method utilizing wheat straw to enhance salt leaching and the subsequent petroleum biodegradation by consortia of bacteria and fungi was proposed. The present study aimed at the effects of wheat straw on the growth and the degradation behavior of E. cloacae and Cun. echinulata, the two species of the consortia. In the laboratory experiments, it was shown that the addition of 5% (mass fraction) straw led to an increase of biomass by 25- and 3-fold to the bacteria and fungi, respectively. The biodegradation ratio of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) was elevated from 29.2% to 48.0% after 468 h treatment. The biodegradation ratio of alkane and aromatic hydrocarbons in petroleum were increased from 31.5% and 39.1%, to 55.7% and 55.9%, respectively. The field demonstration was carried in an area of 6400 m2, in which the bacteria and fungi were inoculated after salt leaching in the presence of wheat straw. The addition of wheat straw in the contaminated soil led to an increase by 158- and 9-fold to the bacteria and fungi, as compared to their counterpart in the controlland without wheat straw, at 25 days after the inoculation. The content of TPH was down to below 0.3% while the maximum biodegradation ratio of TPH reached 75% after 45 days treatment. These results demonstrated the effectiveness and high potential of the wheat straw enhanced bioaugmentation of petroleum-salt contaminated soil.

Enhanced bioaugmentation of petroleum- and salt-contaminated soil using wheat straw.

A new bioaugmentation method for petroleum- and salt-contaminated soil was presented, in which wheat straw was used to enhance salt leaching and subsequent petroleum degradation by a bacteria-fungi consortium of Enterobacter cloacae and Cunninghamella echinulata. The effectiveness of a coarse wheat straw layer in inhibiting capillary-induced upward salt movement and in enhancing growth of E. cloacae and C. echinulata was shown in the laboratory and a 7000-m(2) field study in Henan Province, China. In the field study, the Na(+) concentration in remediated soil at 1-25 cm depth decreased from 1597 ± 394 to 543 ± 217 mg kg(-1), while Cl(-) decreased from 1520 ± 922 to 421 ± 253 mg kg(-1). The wheat straw increased bacterial biomass by 170-fold and fungi 11-fold compared to control soil without wheat straw. The concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbons decreased from 6320 ± 1180 to 2260 ± 420 mg kg(-1) after 45 d of treatment. Wheat was cultivated on remediated soil and grain yield reached 72% of that obtained in normal farmland adjacent to the study site. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of wheat straw in enhancing bioaugmentation of the petroleum- and salt-contaminated soil and indicated a high application potential.

[Field scale demonstration of fungi-bacteria augmented remediation of petroleum-contaminated soil].

Pilot demonstration of the fungal-bacterial augmented in situ remediation of petroleum contaminated soil was carried out in Zhongyuan Oilfield, Henan, using artificially prepared soil, newly and aged contaminated soil as sample, respectively. For the first run of the experiment started from Nov. 5, 2004 and lasted for 122 days, the removal of contaminate was 61.0%, 48.3% and 38.3% for diesel, lube and crude oil, respectively. For the second run started from May 18, 2005 and lasted for 161 days, the removal of TPH was 75% for the artificially contaminated soil sample while 46.0% and 56.6% for the fresh and aged contaminated soil. The removal of high concentration salt was involved in the remediation of the freshly and aged contaminated soil. The changes of the petroleum composition was monitored during the remediation process, which confirmed the effective degradation of alkanes, aromatic hydrocarbons and non-hydrocarbon compounds by the fungi-bacteria consortia, as compared to that obtained without the inoculation of the consortia. To further demonstrate the remediation, wheat was planted in above reclaimed soil. While wheat production in the reclaimed artificially contaminated soil yielded nearly as much as that obtained in the normal farmland, the output of wheat in the reclaimed refresh and aged contaminated soil was 57.2% and 70.3% of the averaged output of the normal farmland. The above results further confirmed the workability of fungal-bacterial augmented in situ remediation of petroleum contaminated soil and its application potential as well.

[Synergy between fungi and bacteria in fungi-bacteria augmented remediation of petroleum-contaminated soil].

A new bioaugmentation technique for petroleum contaminated soil utilizing the synergistic function between bacteria and fungi in both growth and metabolism of petroleum was proposed and investigated using E. cloacae and Cun. echinulata, both of which were isolated from Zhongyuan Oil Field, Henan, China. The maximum biomass of E. cloacae and Cun. echinulata obtained in the mixed slurry culture were 3- and 20-fold as much as their respective counterpart obtained in the pure cultures. The decrease of cell activity was considerably postponed, as compared to the pure cultures. The removal of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) by the mixture was higher than the sum of the individual removal obtained in the pure culture, which could be further enhanced by repeated inoculation of fresh fungal and bacterial inocula. The optimal parameters of the in situ bioremediation of crude oil-contaminated soil sampled in Zhongyuan Oil Field were determined as follows: 25% (m/m) soil humidity, 6% (m/m) of wood scraps, 2.5 x 10(4) CFU/g of E. cloacae and 2.5 x 10(7) CFU/g dry soil of Cun. echinulata. It was demonstrated that the growth behavior of the inocula and the degradation of TPH were not inhibited by the indigenous microorganisms. The in situ remediation via inoculating the fungal-bacterial consortia removed 65% of TPH in 40 days while the control experiment with the indigenous microorganisms removed 16%.