Treatment of diesel-polluted clay soil employing combined biostimulation in microcosms

The efficiency of inorganic fertilizers as stimulating agents for the bioremediation of oil-polluted environments can be increased with the addition of selected biostimulating compounds. In this study, the efficacy of different biostimulation treatments in the remediation of diesel-polluted soil in purpose-built microcosms has been evaluated. The treatments involved combinations of inorganic fertilizer with (a) Ivey surfactant, (b) Biorem organic fertilizer and (c) ethanol. Microbial activity was evaluated by monitoring the growth of heterotrophic and degrading bacteria and their dehydrogenase activity and carbon dioxide production. Hydrocarbon degradation was monitored by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The results showed that all treatments enhanced microbial activity in comparison with natural attenuation and also that the combined treatments generally enhanced hydrocarbon biodegradation in comparison to both natural attenuation and the single inorganic fertilizer treatment. The inorganic fertilizer plus Ivey® surfactant was the most efficient treatment in terms of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon and light and heavy n-alkanes, showing an index of degradation of 1.4 and 1.3, respectively. Furthermore, biodegradation of heavy and branched n-alkanes was higher in microcosms treated with inorganic fertilizer plus ethanol (Index of degradation values of 1.6 and 1.5, respectively) indicating that combined treatments can be very effective in restoration of contaminated soil.