Characteristics of petroleum-contaminated groundwater during natural attenuation: a case study in northeast China

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate a petroleum-contaminated groundwater site in northeast China. We determined the physicochemical properties of groundwater that contained total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) with a view to developing a scientifically robust strategy for controlling and remediating pollution of groundwater already contaminated with petroleum. Samples were collected at regular intervals and were analyzed for dissolved oxygen (DO), iron (Fe), sulfate (SO), electrical conductivity (Eh), pH, hydrogen carbonate (HCO), and enzyme activities of catalase (CAT), peroxidase (HRP), catechol 1,2-dioxygenase (C12O), and catechol 2,3-dioxygenase (C23O). We used factor analysis in SPSS to determine the main environmental characteristics of the groundwater samples. The results confirmed that the study site was slightly contaminated and that TPH levels were decreasing slightly. Some of the physicochemical variables showed regular fluctuations; DO, Fe, and SO contents decreased gradually, while the concentrations of one of the microbial degradation products, HCO, increased. Microorganism enzyme activities decreased gradually. The microbiological community deteriorated noticeably during the natural attenuation process, so microbiological degradation of pollutants receded gradually. The HCO content increased and the pH and Eh decreased gradually. The groundwater environment tended to be reducing.

Biostimulation of Petroleum-Contaminated Soil Using Organic and Inorganic Amendments

“…These organisms depend on nutrients from plant biomass, such as organic acids, amino acids, and soluble sugars, for their nutritional needs and increased metabolic activities [ 47 , 48 ]. Composts rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium have been found to effectively enrich the soil, stimulate the growth of soil microbiota, and consequently rehabilitate damaged soils [ 49 ]. The stem had the highest values of reducing sugars and total carbohydrates, which are critical to microbial activities during composting and contaminant biodegradation [ 50 ].…”

Differential degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons by Shewanella putrefaciens under aerobic and anaerobic conditions

“…Hence, Fe(III) can serve as the potential electron acceptor to couple with petroleum biodegradation ( Lovley et al, 1989 ; Vodyanitskii, 2011 ; Liu et al, 2023a ). Indeed, oil-contaminated sites often contain dissolved iron, with concentration levels ranging from 0.1 mM ( Qian et al, 2018 ) to as high as 1 mM ( Bennett et al, 1993 ). These high levels of dissolved iron may be a result of transformation of iron-bearing minerals through two mechanisms: (1) organic acids produced from microbial metabolism facilitate dissolution of iron-bearing minerals ( Barth and Riis, 1992 ); (2) bio-reduction of Fe(III)-bearing minerals leads to reductive dissolution of iron-bearing minerals ( Weber et al, 2006 ; Zeng et al, 2016 , 2020 ).…”

Using CO2- induced magnesium carbonate as environmental friendly additives for petroleum decontamination sandy soils

“…One of the most significant environmental contaminations is soil petroleum contamination results from storage and transportation, which has caused significant environmental impacts. These pollutions cause many problems in agriculture soil, groundwater industrial, and civil engineering structures (Essien & John, 2010;Qian et al, 2018;Karkush & Kareem, 2017). Some of the pollutants are classified as dangerous pollutants due to their resistance to decomposition as well as carcinogenic and mutagenic problems (Gao & Ling, 2006;Wilson& Jones,1993).…”