Bioremediation of the oil spill polluted marine intertidal zone and its toxicity effect on microalgae

• Published in: Environmental science--processes & impacts 2015-04, Vol.17 (4), p.877-885
• Main Authors: Pi, Yongrui, Xu, Nana, Bao, Mutai, Li, Yiming, Lv, Dong, Sun, Peiyan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biodegradation, Environmental; Microalgae - drug effects; Microalgae - physiology; Petroleum - metabolism; Petroleum - toxicity; Petroleum Pollution; Phaeodactylum tricornutum; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; Seawater - chemistry; Skeletonema; Water Pollutants, Chemical - metabolism; Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity
• ISSN: 2050-7887; 2050-7895
• DOI: 10.1039/c5em00005j

Custom-designed devices with 0.6 m ( L ) × 0.3 m ( W ) × 0.4 m ( H ) and a microbial consortium were applied to simulate bioremediation on the oil spill polluted marine intertidal zone. After the bioremediation, the removal efficiency of n -alkanes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon homologues in crude oil evaluated by GC-MS were higher than 58% and 41% respectively. Besides, the acute toxicity effects of crude oil on three microalgae, i.e. Dicrateria sp., Skeletonema costatum and Phaeodactylum tricornutum , varied with concentration. The effects of microbe and surfactant treated water on the three microalgae followed a decreasing order: the microbial consortium plus Tween-80 > the microbial consortium > Tween-80. During 96 h, the cell densities of the three microalgae in treated seawater increased from 4.0 × 10 5 , 1.0 × 10 5 and 2.5 × 10 5 cells per mL to 1.7 × 10 6 , 8.5 × 10 5 and 2.5 × 10 6 cells per mL, respectively, which illustrated that the quality of seawater contaminated by crude oil was significantly improved by the bioremediation. Custom-designed devices with 0.6 m ( L ) × 0.3 m ( W ) × 0.4 m ( H ) and a microbial consortium were applied to simulate bioremediation on the oil spill-polluted marine intertidal zone.