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Effect of Bioaugmentation and Biostimulation on Hydrocarbon Degradation and Bacterial Community Composition in Different Petroleum-Contaminated Soil Layers

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Abstract

Oil spills during extraction and use are seriously threatening human health. Hence, effective bioremediation is a prerequisite for environmental and human well-being. In this study, bioremediation was performed by natural attenuation (NA), bioaugmentation (BA), and biostimulation (BS) microcosmic experiments. Gas chromatography and high-throughput sequencing were used to explore the changes in hydrocarbon degradation and bacterial community structure in different layers of contaminated soil, respectively. The results showed that the deep soil contained mainly C17‒C21 fractions. In 300 days, the degradation rates of soil total petroleum hydrocarbons in surface, middle, and deep soils were 99.87%, 96.04%, and 71.63% in the BA group; 99.75%, 95.73%, and 99.84% in the BS group; and 8.55%, 8.64%, and 9.84% in the NA group, respectively. Most of the petroleum hydrocarbon fractions were completely degraded by the end of remediation experiments. There were noticeable changes in the structure and relative abundance of soil bacteria in the different treatments compared to the original soil. Proteobacteria was the dominant phylum in all soil samples and Pseudomonas became the dominant genus in the BA group. In the BA and BS group, the germination rate of mung bean seeds was > 72.5% in all cases, which was six times higher than that of the NA group. Thus, bioremediation reduced the toxicity of contaminated soil in a shorter period of time than NA, and this study could act as a reference for treatment of contaminated soil in oil recovery areas.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51978189).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541004, China

    Jieliang Nong, Peng Peng, Jiayuan Pan, Taiming Shen & QingLin **e

  2. Collaborative Innovation Center for Water Pollution Control and Water Safety in Karst Area, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541004, China

    QingLin **e

Authors
  1. Jieliang Nong
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  2. Peng Peng
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  3. Jiayuan Pan
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Jieliang Nong participates in collection of sampling; experimental work; compilation of resulted data; writing—original draft; and writing—review and editing. Peng Peng: investigation; visualization; software; writing—original draft; and writing—review and editing. Jiayuan Pan: methodology; investigation; writing—original draft; and writing—review and editing. Taiming Shen: software and writing—review and editing. Qinglin **e: supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to QingLin **e.

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Highlights

• The C17–C21 fraction poses the greatest threat to deep soils.

• Biostimulation was more effective than bioaugmentation in TPH biodegradation.

• Lack of nutrients is a major factor affecting petroleum hydrocarbon degradation.

• More structural diversity of microorganisms in the biostimulation group.

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Nong, J., Peng, P., Pan, J. et al. Effect of Bioaugmentation and Biostimulation on Hydrocarbon Degradation and Bacterial Community Composition in Different Petroleum-Contaminated Soil Layers. Water Air Soil Pollut 234, 189 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-023-06161-7

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