Bioremediation of Crude Oil Contaminated Soil Using Pig Droppings and Bone Char

Abstract

Oil extraction operations as well as equipment failure and infrastructure vandalism have caused serious environmental pollution with crude oil spills world-wide. The remediation of the polluted sites is an environmental problem beckoning for solution. In this study, the possibility of pig droppings and pig bone char mixture (biostimulant) to stimulate and optimize crude oil biodegradation in soil was investigated. Exactly 500g of loamy soil was spiked with 3% (w/w) of crude oil. The spiked soil was amended with varying percentage mixtures of the biostimulant and labelled A – E. The spiked soil without biostimulant served as the Control. Each experiment was setup in six (6) replicates, carried out for six weeks, and destructively sampled and analysed on a weekly basis. The removal efficiencies of the biostimulated and unbiostimulated soils were observed to range from 66.70 to 86.70% and 3.69%, respectively. The biodegradation first-order rate constants ranged from 0.1978 to 0.3391wk-1 and 0.0050wk-1 for the biostimulated and unbiostimulated soils, respectively. Optimum removal of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) was observed for biostimulated soil C comprising 50% bone char and 50% pig droppings. Results from biostimulated soils A, B, D and E indicated that pig droppings is a more effective biostimulant than pig bone char. A first-order kinetic model adequately predicted the removal of TPH with the optimum biostimulant. It is concluded that using agro-organic waste materials such as pig droppings and pig bone char in a ratio of 1:1 can offer a simple, effective, inexpensive and environmentally friendly solution to the problem of soil contamination with crude oil.

Cost reduction strategies in the remediation of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soil

“…Biostimulation is a biochemical process of introducing limiting nutrients required by PHDM into the petroleum-contaminated soil for enhanced biodegradation. Several sources of nutrients have been developed and tested at different scales, and reportedly achieved higher TPH degradation compared to natural attenuation 83 . Spill areas that consist of indigenous microbes would require microbial stimulants to sustain growth towards enhanced hydrocarbon removal.…”

Modelling and Optimizing the Effect of pH on Remediation of Crude Oil Polluted Soil with Biochar Blend: RSM Approach

“…The contaminant's and the soil's chemical, physical, and biological characteristics all have a role in the remediation technique selection [5]. It has been discovered that the physicochemical and thermal approaches are pricy and timeconsuming [6]. Due to its simplicity, costeffectiveness, and environmental friendliness, bioremediation has emerged as the most attractive technique [7,8].…”

“…Using microorganisms, the remediation process known as bioremediation converts harmful compounds into less dangerous or nontoxic forms [5]. The presence of pollutants, bacteria that consume the contaminants, enough oxygen, acceptable soil moisture, the proper temperature, nutrients to enable microbial development, and a suitable pH are, nonetheless, essential requirements for efficient bioremediation [6].…”

Pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) dung and their associated fungi: Potential candidates for bio-remediation and nutrients improvement of crude oil contaminated soils

“…In Nigeria, rising demand for oil-based energy has led to increased exploration and drilling for crude oil especially in the Niger delta area. However, infrastructure and equipment failures during such operations in upstream, downstream and along value chain lines or transportation channels, have resulted in widespread oil spillages and environmental pollutions, around communities of operations (Erdogan et al 2011;Udeani et al 2012;Naowasarn et al 2016;Ugwoha et al 2020). Statistics revealed that 7000 oil spill cases occurred in the Niger delta area in the last 5 decades; with about 37 million liters (240, 000 barrels) of oil discharged into the ecosystem per year (Amnesty International 2018).…”