Impact of bacterial and fungal processes on 14C-hexadecane mineralisation in weathered hydrocarbon contaminated soil

Microbial Activity in Marine Sediments Exposed to Hexadecane: A Laboratory Study

“…Each serum bottle contained, 30 g of sediment, 70 mL of sterilized seawater (pH = 7, salinity = 36 PSU), 70 μL of Tween 20, and 7 μL of HXD (Sigma–Aldrich, 99% purity, sterilized using a 0.22 μm membrane filter), making a final concentration of 50 mg L −1 HXD. Low concentrations of Tween 20 were used to increase the solubility of HXD; concentration was low enough to avoid HXD mineralization . Subsequently, the serological bottles were sealed with rubber caps and aluminum rings.…”

“…Low concentrations of Tween 20 were used to increase the solubility of HXD; concentration was low enough to avoid HXD mineralization. [36][37][38] Subsequently, the serological bottles were sealed with rubber caps and aluminum rings.…”

Biosurfactant from red ash trees enhances the bioremediation of PAH contaminated soil at a former gasworks site

“…Surfactants are promising agents for increasing the bioavailability of petroleum hydrocarbon-by products. It has been shown that addition of different synthetic surfactants had a positive impact on the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons including PAHs (Adetutu et al, 2012;Hultgren et al, 2009;Zhang et al, 2010). Research by Franzetti et al (2008) compared the diesel-degradation abilities of the 'Brij' family of synthetic surfactants to the 'Tween' family and found that in conjunction with a liquid bacterial culture the residual hydrocarbon percentages were 36 (Brij), 9 (Tween) and 37 (control) after 7 days incubation.…”

Phytoremediation

“…In some instances, biostimulation through the addition of surfactants has been investigated Hultgren et al 2009 ). Adetutu et al ( 2012 ) showed that the presence of Tween 80 (1 % w/w) in weathered hydrocarboncontaminated soil resulted in an increase in 14 C-hexadecane mineralisation from 1.2 % in unamended control and 8.5 % in amended soil with nitrogen and phosphorus to 28.9 % after 98 days of incubation. The addition of surfactant may, Toxicity of contaminants to the plant however, lead to reduced rates of contaminant biodegradation as surfactant may separate the microbes from the contaminantwater interface, resulting in the preferential consumption of an alternative more readily degradable substrate rather than hydrocarbons.…”