PAH BIODEGRADATION IN SOIL-WATER SUSPENSIONS CONTAMINATED WITH WASTE OIL

Hwang, Sangchul; Min, Kyung-Sok; Cutright, Teresa J.

doi:2004.9.1.1

Environmental Engineering Research 2004;9(1): 1-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4491/eer.2004.9.1.001

PAH BIODEGRADATION IN SOIL-WATER SUSPENSIONS CONTAMINATED WITH WASTE OIL

Sangchul Hwang¹, Kyung-Sok Min²^†, and Teresa J. Cutright³

¹Dept of Geography and Environmental Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
²Dept of Environmental Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Taegu 702-701, Korea
³Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325-3905, USA

Corresponding Author: Kyung-Sok Min ,Tel: +82-53-950-6581, Fax: +82-53-950-6579, Email: ksmin@knu.ac.kr

Received: August 13, 2003; Accepted: January 12, 2004.

ABSTRACT

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) biodegradation patterns were measured for soils that were freshly spiked and field aged with waste oil. The maximum attainable bioaugmentation efficiencies for the two freshly spiked soils were different. This was attributed to the dissimilarity in soil type and total expandable clay mineral (ECM) content. The soil rich in ECM (4.0%) achieved a lower PAH biodegradation (37%) compared to 57% PAH reduction in the soil containing 2.2% ECM. Bioaugmentation decreased the PAH content from 3,217 to 2,260 mg PAH/kg soil for more than 30 years field aged soil system, whereas the level was reduced from 6,158 to 3,928 mg PAH/kg soil for the freshly spiked soil system. For the field aged soil, biostimulation efficiency was comparable to that obtained for bioaugmentation.

Keywords: Bioaugmentation | Biostimulation | Freshly spiked | Field aged | Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons