Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contamination in Terrestrial Ecosystems—Fate and Microbial Responses

Abstract

Petroleum hydrocarbons represent the most frequent environmental contaminant. The introduction of petroleum hydrocarbons into a pristine environment immediately changes the nature of that environment, resulting in reduced ecosystem functionality. Natural attenuation represents the single, most important biological process which removes petroleum hydrocarbons from the environment. It is a process where microorganisms present at the site degrade the organic contaminants without the input of external bioremediation enhancers (i.e., electron donors, electron acceptors, other microorganisms or nutrients). So successful is this natural attenuation process that in environmental biotechnology, bioremediation has developed steadily over the past 50 years based on this natural biodegradation process. Bioremediation is recognized as the most environmentally friendly remediation approach for the removal of petroleum hydrocarbons from an environment as it does not require intensive chemical, mechanical, and costly interventions. However, it is under-utilized as a commercial remediation strategy due to incomplete hydrocarbon catabolism and lengthy remediation times when compared with rival technologies. This review aims to describe the fate of petroleum hydrocarbons in the environment and discuss their interactions with abiotic and biotic components of the environment under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Furthermore, the mechanisms for dealing with petroleum hydrocarbon contamination in the environment will be examined. When petroleum hydrocarbons contaminate land, they start to interact with its surrounding, including physical (dispersion), physiochemical (evaporation, dissolution, sorption), chemical (photo-oxidation, auto-oxidation), and biological (plant and microbial catabolism of hydrocarbons) interactions. As microorganism (including bacteria and fungi) play an important role in the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons, investigations into the microbial communities within contaminated soils is essential for any bioremediation project. This review highlights the fate of petroleum hydrocarbons in tertial environments, as well as the contributions of different microbial consortia for optimum petroleum hydrocarbon bioremediation potential. The impact of high-throughput metagenomic sequencing in determining the underlying degradation mechanisms is also discussed. This knowledge will aid the development of more efficient, cost-effective commercial bioremediation technologies.

Soil Microbiome Structure and Function in Ecopiles Used to Remediate Petroleum-Contaminated Soil

“…These factors significantly impact the plants' ability to grow. Without a functional microbial community and healthy plant life, the environment is unlikely to support much higher-order lifeforms (Girsowicz et al, 2018;Truskewycz et al, 2019).…”

Soil Pollution by Petroleum-Derived Substances and its Bioremediation: The Effect on Aphis fabae Scop. Infestation and Antioxidant Response in Vicia faba L.

“…The chief sources of contamination are production processes, transportation pipeline and refinery malfunctions, tank leakages, or accidents [1]. It is commonly known that the soil contamination with PDSs constitutes a potential danger to human health and life; therefore, in recent years, efforts have been undertaken in order to find effective, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly ways to amend contaminated soils [2][3][4][5]. The most commonly recommended method is biological remediation [6][7][8].…”

Chemical-Assisted Microbially Mediated Chromium (Cr) (VI) Reduction Under the Influence of Various Electron Donors, Redox Mediators, and Other Additives: An Outlook on Enhanced Cr(VI) Removal

“…In general, electron donors release electrons during cellular respiration accompanied by the release of energy. But such cellular reaction in microorganisms also enables biological treatment by providing electrons to Cr(VI) ( Ceci et al, 2019 ; Truskewycz et al, 2019 ). Even suitable electron donors can facilitate the enhancement of reduction activity ( Poopal and Laxman, 2009 ; Alam and Ahmad, 2012 ; Ibrahim et al, 2012 ; Shi et al, 2012 ).…”