Technical bioremediation of Oil-Contaminated Soil
Subject Areas : environmental managementnasrin gharahi 1 , Rasool zamani 2
1 - Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Natural Resources and Earth Sciences, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran
2 - Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Natural Resources and Earth Sciences, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran
Keywords: Soil, petroleum hydrocarbons, biochar, petroleum removal.,
Abstract :
Introduction: Oil pollutants in the soil are one of the serious problems in the environment. The release of oil into the soil can cause soil degradation, biological reduction, and disruption of natural processes such as microbial transformation and plant destruction. Therefore, trying to reduce and remove oil pollutants from the soil is a necessary and important matter. Biochar is used as a natural adsorbent in the field of removing petroleum pollutants due to its carbon enrichment and internal organic connections. The complex structure of biochar increases the surface area and absorption, which can be converted into efficiency in removing more oil pollutants from the soil. This organic material comes from the decomposition and separation of wood and grass residues of agricultural products using the pyrolysis method. According to the presented research and findings, the importance of this research was the treatment of biochar modifiers and the evaluation of its effectiveness in the removal of oil pollution in the soil.
Materials and methods: The experiment was carried out with pots produced with 500 grams of soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and the effect of adding different levels of straw and wheat stubble biochar modifiers on the reduction of soil oil contamination was investigated. Three treatments were carried out by adding biochar as a control, biochar with a weight ratio of 3% and biochar with a weight ratio of 5% in three repetitions and at a weight of 30 degrees Celsius, with a relative ambient temperature of 6% and a duration of 60 days inside incubation. Deionized water is maintained at 70% water storage capacity every two days, and microbial and TPHs are measured every 10 days.
Results and discussion: The results showed that the removal of TPHs after 60 days of incubation was 1.9, 10.5, and 15.5 g/kg) in control treatments, three percent by weight and five percent by weight of biochar, respectively. The acidity of the soil in the treatment of three-weight percent and five-weight percent biochar after 60 days of the experiment was 7.02 and 6.83, respectively, which decreased compared to the sample before the experiment. Also, the amount of soil organic matter reached the lowest value of 7.99 (g/kg) after 60 days of experiment by adding five percent biochar. The electrical conductivity of the soil for both treatments was slightly increased compared to the sample before the test. The microbial content of the soil increased more in two treatments of three percent by weight and five percent by weight compared to the control sample and then decreased after 40 days of incubation. The increase in soil microbial growth in the treatment of five percent by weight of biochar was higher than in the treatment of three percent by weight of biochar. The amount of organic and microbial matter showed that biochar not only fertilizes the soil and regulates the physicochemical properties of the soil, but also can be a useful buffer medium for drugs. The biomobility effect of the present study highlights the potential of biochar in reducing TPHs to increase its potential for remediation effectiveness
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