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Clean Techn Environ Policy (2012) 14:719726
DOI 10.1007/s10098-011-0439-0
ORIGINAL PAPER
Application of selected microbial consortia combinedwith inorganic and oleophilic fertilizers to recuperate oil-polluted soil using land farming technology
G. A. Silva-Castro I. Uad J. Gnzalez-Lpez
C. G. Fandio F. L. Toledo Concepcin Calvo
Received: 14 October 2010 / Accepted: 22 November 2011 / Published online: 3 December 2011 Springer-Verlag 2011
Abstract Bioremediation is an important technology for the restoration of oil-polluted environments by the use of indigenous or selected microorganisms. We analyzed the efciency of two selected microbial consortia (A and B) inoculated in combination with inorganic fertilizer (NPK) or oleophilic fertilizer (S200 commercial) on the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) by applying them in land farming treatments. Consortium A was composed of Bacillus pumilus, Alcaligenes faecalis, Micrococcus luteus, and Enterobacter sp.; consortium B was composed of B. pumilus, Enterobacter sp., and Ochrobactrum anthropi. Land treatment was performed in separated plots and the evolution of biodegradation rates was followed for 7 months.
Treatment with NPK and inoculation with consortium A efciently reduced the n-alkane hydrocarbons. In contrast, the application of S200 C and inoculation with consortium B reduced the hydrocarbon removal capacity of polluted soil and they did not show any advantage respected to the non-treated control plot. In addition, the results showed that inoculation with consortium A and application of the combined treatment consortium A ? NPK fertilizer gave the highest percentage of PAH removal. These results suggest that the inoculation of polluted soil with consortium A, integrated by hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria and biosurfactant/bioemulsier-producing bacteria, would be a useful method for improving hydrocarbon biodegradation. In conclusion, inoculation with a selected
bacterial consortium at the beginning of a land treatment followed by treatment with NPK fertilizer is an efcient combination treatment of bioaugmentation and biostimulation for application in the bioremediation of soil polluted with hydrocarbons.
Keywords Hydrocarbon pollution Bioremediation
Land farming Microbial consortium Inorganic fertilizer
Introduction
Bioremediation is a process of transforming hazardous compounds into less hazardous/non-hazardous forms with a low input of chemicals, energy, and time. It is an approach to degrade/remove pollutants in an eco-friendly manner (Haritash and Kaushik 2009). Bioremediation is a treatment used to clean up polluted areas, including soils contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbons. It is a process whereby the natural...