oa Bioaugmentation And Biostimulation Studies In The Bioremediation Of Crude Oil Contaminated Gcc Soils

Bioaugmentation and biostimulation studies were carried out on crude oil contaminated GCC soils using a series of engineered biopile systems. The preliminary soil studies clearly showed the poor level of nutrients and low count of indigenous soil bacteria, thus justifying the addition of bacteria and soil nutrients The success towards design of bioremediation systems to treat crude oil contaminated soils crucially depends on the outcome of a series of staged experiments involving soil characterization, oil evaporation and effects of biological and chemical additives to the contaminated soils. The texture, chemical analysis and microbiological character of soils will dictate the level of humidification, biostimulation and bioaugmentation required. Biopile systems have been proved to be effective, controllable and environmentally friendly techniques to treat contaminated soils. Extensive laboratory tests have shown that such systems can be optimized for treatment efficiency and design cost. Ultimately, it is expected that the current landfarming practices would be phased out because of their poor treatment efficiency and displacement of part of the problem from soil to atmosphere. . The performance evaluation of the bioremediation biopile systems which included control systems with no bacteria and indigenous microorganisms, was based on CO2 evolution. The biopile systems bioaugmented and biostimulated showed superior bioremediation activity according to such performance criteria. This investigation has clearly shown the benefits of bioaugmentation and biostimulation in the bioremediation of crude oil contaminated desert soils. The addition of an anionic surfactant enhanced the bioavailability of nutrients and resulted in a faster response to the biological treatment of crude oil contaminated desert soil.