Bioremediation of Contaminated Soil Containing Crude Oil

Abstract

Bioremediation of contaminated soil containing crude oil is a technique process whereby biological systems are harnessed to affect the clean-up of environmental pollutants. Microbial systems are most widely employed in bioremediation programs, generally in the treatment of soil and water contaminants with organic pollutants. This thesis reports the experiment of treating the soil without use of any chemicals. Four treatments were used for this experiment. All of the treatments were containing bio-product to remediate the contaminated soil with crude oil. The bio-product in this case was sawdust and water. The experiment was done in the laboratory under the hood (incubation) the conditions were monitored with lamps to generate heat.

This bioremediation technique resulted in significant removal of hydrocarbons.. The total amount of hydrocarbons removed at best was 65.14% in 22 days of the experiment. This treatment the composition of 100g of contaminated soil, 50g of sawdust and 300ml of water that resulted in 80% humidity. Those results were achieved under the temperature of 22°C to 28°C.

This result shows that mixing the contaminated soil with sawdust and water under well monitored conditions 22°C to 28°C can result in reduction of total hydrocarbons on the soil. Thus there are indications thatwith a known proportion of water and sawdust the treatment might be suitable tool for the remediation of contaminated soil with crude oil.