The Effectiveness of Biostimulation, Bioaugmentation and Sorption-Biological Treatment of Soil Contaminated with Petroleum Products in the Russian Subarctic

Abstract

The effectiveness of different bioremediation methods (biostimulation, bioaugmentation, the sorption-biological method) for the restoration of soil contaminated with petroleum products in the Russian Subarctic has been studied. The object of the study includes soil contaminated for 20 years with petroleum products. By laboratory experiment, we established five types of microfungi that most intensively decompose petroleum hydrocarbons: Penicillium canescens st. 1, Penicillium simplicissimum st. 1, Penicillum commune, Penicillium ochrochloron, and Penicillium restrictum. One day after the start of the experiment, 6 to 18% of the hydrocarbons decomposed: at 3 days, this was 16 to 49%; at 7 days, 40 to 73%; and at 10 days, 71 to 87%. Penicillium commune exhibited the greatest degrading activity throughout the experiment. For soils of light granulometric composition with a low content of organic matter, a more effective method of bioremediation is sorption-biological treatment using peat or granulated activated carbon: the content of hydrocarbons decreased by an average of 65%, which is 2.5 times more effective than without treatment. The sorbent not only binds hydrocarbons and their toxic metabolites but is also a carrier for hydrocarbon-oxidizing microorganisms and prevents nutrient leaching from the soil. High efficiency was noted due to the biostimulation of the native hydrocarbon-oxidizing microfungi and bacteria by mineral fertilizers and liming. An increase in the number of microfungi, bacteria and dehydrogenase activity indicate the presence of a certain microbial potential of the soil and the ability of the hydrocarbons to produce biochemical oxidation. The use of the considered methods of bioremediation will improve the ecological state of the contaminated area and further the gradual restoration of biodiversity.

Microbial Communities of Seawater and Coastal Soil of Russian Arctic Region and Their Potential for Bioremediation from Hydrocarbon Pollutants

“…The data obtained indicate that the studied strains can be recommended for the application in biotechnologies for oil removal at low temperature. It is widely believed that bioaugmentation of oil-contaminated soils by hydrocarbon-oxidizing associations in combination with biostimulation (the introduction of mineral fertilizers) gives the same results of oil degradation as the use of biostimulation of autochthonous hydrocarbon-oxidizing soil microbiota by applying mineral fertilizers, and only slightly accelerates this process [ 8 , 91 , 92 ]. However, in some cases, hydrocarbons of different classes are extracted from sediments or soil contaminated with petroleum products, and the resulting solutions are treated ex situ in bioreactors with immobilized cells [ 93 ].…”

“…The argument in favor of the use of biostimulation is that natural microorganisms are initially well adapted to the conditions of their environment. However, under Arctic conditions, the application of bioremediation methods faces additional difficulties [ 4 , 7 , 8 ]. Microorganisms living in high-latitude Arctic and Antarctic regions, along with low temperatures, can simultaneously experience several stressors.…”

Hydrocarbon Degradation Potentials of Fungi: A Review

“…Fig. 5 shows three (3) common and most widely available approaches of fungal bioremediation of petro-hydrocarbons, these approaches were recently reviewed [1,26,27]. The approaches include : bioaugmentation, biostimulation, and bioaugmentationbiostimulation [17].…”

Bioremediation of total petroleum hydrocarbons in oil sludge-polluted soil using active carbon remediator

“…They found out that the addition of nutrients and biosurfactant + nutrients led to the highest biodegradation, so that 90.4 and 78 percent of oils and greases, 96.82 and 98.35 percent of aliphatic hydrocarbons and 83.58 and 72.3 percent of polyaromatic compounds were eliminated by the addition of nutrients and biosurfactant + nutrients, respectively. Myazin et al (2021) investigated the effect of adding NPK, two types of active carbon (1300 g/m2 (AC1) and 3900 g/m2 (AC2)), peat and petroleum degrading microorganisms to a soil contaminated with petroleum for 20 years. These researchers concluded that the highest hydrocarbon degradation constant (k = 0.00235) was observed in peat treatments, followed by AC1 and AC2 treatments with 0.00168 and 0.00151, respectively.…”

“…Therefore, protection of indigenous degrading microorganisms and improving the bioavailability of pollutants is also essential. Application of sorbents accelerates the bioremediation process, since sorbents act as a source of nitrogen and phosphorous for the degrading microorganisms and improve the soil moisture retention capacity and aeration (Myazin et al 2021). Active carbon as an in situ technology may be effective in bioremediation of petroleum-polluted soils because they: (1) adsorb heavy metals and toxic compounds present in polluted soils and prevent contact direct of these compounds with the degrading microorganism and other soil biota; (2) act as a carrier and a place of localization for microorganisms, stimulating their growth; (3) improve soil conditions by adsorption and retention of nutrients and increase the moisture capacity and aeration of soil (Myazin et al 2021;Agarry et al 2015).…”