Reduction of the soil environmental impact caused by the presence of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) by using Pseudomonas sp.

Abstract

This research focuses on the bioaugmentation with Pseudomonas sp. (native) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (commercial) for the biodegradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) of the environmental soil samples of the AqLab laboratory in Orellana, Ecuador. Two treatments of sterilized soil (one inoculated with the native strain and the other inoculated with the commercial strain), where used for physical- -chemical analyzes as well as the degradation of TPH. They were evaluated every 20 days for a total period of 80–100 days. The native bacterium was isolated from the laboratory agglomerates in a selective culture medium specific for Pseudomonas sp. The biodegradation of the TPH exhibited a positive result after 80 and 100 days of treatment, with a reduction of 84 and 96% of initial TPH after the bacterial inoculation. The comparison between the two strains evaluated, commercial and native, showed a greater efficiency of biodegradation by the native strain isolated directly from the agglomerates, suggesting working with native strains of the place that have a greater adaptability to the contaminated environment that would ensure bioremediation processes faster and more efficient, low cost and environmentally friendly.

Journal of Water and Land Development

“…The need to remediate areas contaminated with PAHs is legally determined [Ustawa … 2001] and therefore research is being undertaken on the impact and possibility of restoring the soil environment to a state close to the original one. The effectiveness of these activities should be interdisciplinary because it depends on many abiotic and biotic factors [GASKIN, BENTHAM 2010;HEWELKE et al 2018;PÁLIZ et al 2021]. The response of plants and microorganisms to changes in the soil environment caused by the content of petroleum substances is still insufficiently explained and still arouses the interest of many researchers [CHEN, ZHONG 2019].…”