Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Demelza Menendez VegaORCiD
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
In this work, we present our experience in the engineered in situ biostimulation of a hydrocarbon-polluted subsoil of an old metal-working plant. The site had a long history of fuel, lubricant oil, and diesel spills and leakages that were initially treated by means of physico-chemical techniques. After one year of treatment, weathered hydrocarbons were firmly sorbed in the unsaturated zone, limiting the effectiveness of the physico-chemical methods being applied. Also, low nutrient and dissolved oxygen levels limited natural attenuation yields. Therefore, a bioremediation approach based on the injection of hydrogen peroxide, an oleophilic fertilizer, and a surfactant was applied. Total petroleum hydrocarbons and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry determinations were performed as a chemical means of monitoring the process. Microbial populations, including the presence of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria, were simultaneously analyzed during the process, using enrichment techniques and confocal laser scanning microscopy observations with fluorescent indicators. Hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria were already present in the polluted subsoil prior to the implementation of this bioremediation technique and increased noticeably during the first 2 months of treatment. Hence, the suitability of the nutrient and oxygen amending approach was confirmed as further demonstrated by chemical determinations.
Author(s): Menendez-Vega D, Gallego JLR, Pelaez AI, Fernandez de Cordoba G, Moreno J, Muñoz D, Sanchez J
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: European Journal of Soil Biology
Year: 2007
Volume: 43
Issue: 5-6
Pages: 310-321
Print publication date: 01/12/2007
Online publication date: 26/03/2007
ISSN (print): 1164-5563
ISSN (electronic): 1778-3615
Publisher: Elsevier
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejsobi.2007.03.005
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejsobi.2007.03.005
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
