Surfactant-enhanced biodegradation of crude oil by mixed bacterial consortium in contaminated soil

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2018-05, Vol.25 (15), p.14437-14446
• Main Authors: Xu, Ruiwei, Zhang, Zhen, Wang, Liping, Yin, Ningning, Zhan, Xiaohui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activated sludge; Adsorption; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bacteria; Bacteria - chemistry; Bacteria - metabolism; Biodegradation; Biodegradation, Environmental; Carbon sources; Consortia; Cooking; Crude oil; Decontamination; Domestication; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Next-generation sequencing; Oil pollution; Petroleum - metabolism; Polysorbates - chemistry; Polysorbates - metabolism; Research Article; Soil; Soil adsorption; Soil contamination; Soil Microbiology; Soil microorganisms; Soil pollution; Surface-Active Agents - chemistry; Surface-Active Agents - metabolism; Surfactants; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-018-1604-3

This study evaluated the effects of two surfactants (i.e., Tween 80 and SDS) on biodegradation of crude oil by mixed bacterial consortium in soil-aqueous system. The mixed bacterial consortium was domesticated from the activated sludge of cooking plant through a progressive domestication process. High-throughput sequencing analysis revealed that Rhodanobacter sp. was the dominant bacteria. The higher CMC eff value for two surfactants was observed in soil-aqueous system compared with that in aqueous system, which was likely due to their adsorption onto soil particles. Either Tween 80 or SDS can be utilized as carbon source and promote the growth of mixed bacterial consortium. Further findings evidenced that the degradation of crude oil can be enhanced by adding either Tween 80 or SDS. The performance of Tween 80 was generally superior to SDS for the crude oil degradation. The highest crude oil degradation efficiency was 42.2 and 31.0% under the conditions of 5 CMC eff of Tween 80 and 2 CMC eff of SDS, respectively. Furthermore, the degradation efficiency of crude oil in remediation experiment (i.e., 77%) evidenced that the integration of adding Tween 80 and inoculating mixed bacterial consortium was effective for crude oil-contaminated soil decontamination.