Avaliação da biodegradabilidade de misturas de diesel e de biodiesel (B0, B20 e B100) em dois solos com diferentes granulometrias

Author: Daniel Derrossi Meyer Advisor: Fatima Menezes Bento Biodiesel is an alternative source of energy with high biodegradability potential and relatively low toxicity, thus, mitigating impact on ecosystems. The aim of this study was to evaluate biodegradation of diesel/biodiesel (B0, B20 and B100) blends in clay and sandy soils under two approaches of bioremediation (Natural Attenuation and Bioaugmentation). The selection of microbial consortia was carried out using redox indicators (DCPIP and TTC), enzymatic assays [alkane hydroxylase, catechol 2,3-dioxygenase, protocatechol 3,4-dioxygenase, ρ-NPA hydrolysis (esterase) and lipase], total protein, biosurfactants and metabolits yields and cell hidrofobicity assessment. Four bacterial strains were elected (Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus pumilus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia), forming a consortium to be used in Bioaugmentation. For soil biodegradation experiments, microbial activity was assessed by respirometry, desidrogenase, degradators/heterotrofic count and by TPH concentration for B0 and B20 and total esters for B20 and B100. At estimating degradation rates for the soils assessed, it was not observed significant differences between B0 and B20, both for the soils as for the two bioremediation approaches, showing high percentage of degradation (>90%). As for B100, the biodegradation of total esters was higher on bioaugmentation for both soils. Although bioaugmentation have not shown differences in biodegradability between B0 and B20, the addition of microbial consortia associated to macronutrients inoculated in the soil was important to increase the degradation rates of B100 treatment. 2 Master of Science dissertation in Agricultural and Environmental Microbiology, Instituto de Ciencias Basicas da Saude, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. (161 p.), marco, 2011. vii