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Abstract
A laboratory study on the bioremediation of diesel contaminated soil with the earthworm Eudrilus eugeniae (Kingberg) was conducted. 5 ml of diesel was contaminated into soils in replicates and inoculated with E. eugeniae for 90 days. Physicochemical parameters, heavy metals and total petroleum hydrocarbons were analyzed using AAS. BTEX in contaminated soil and tissues of earthworms were determined with GC-FID. The activities of earthworms resulted in a decrease in pH (3.0 %), electrical conductivity (60.66 %), total nitrogen (47.37 %), chloride (60.66 %), total organic carbon (49.22 %), sulphate (60.59 %), nitrate (60.65 %), phosphate (60.80 %), sodium (60.65 %), potassium (60.67 %), calcium (60.67 %), magnesium (60.68 %), zinc (60.59 %), manganese (60.72 %), copper (60.68 %), nickel (60.58 %), cadmium (60.44 %), vanadium (61.19 %), chromium (53.60 %), lead (60.38 %), mercury (61.11 %), arsenic (80.85 %), TPH (84.99 %). Among the BTEX constituents, only benzene (8.35 %) was detected in soil at the end of the study. Earthworm tissue analysis showed varying levels of TPH (57.35 %), benzene (38.91 %), toluene (27.76 %), ethylbenzene (42.16 %) and xylene (09.62 %) in E. eugeniae at the end of the study. The study has shown that E. eugeniae could be applied as a possible bioremediator in diesel polluted soil.
Highlights
Activities in the over half a century operations in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria has resulted in unprecedented release of hydrocarbons and associated pollutants including heavy metals into the Niger Delta environment from refine and unrefined petroleum products (Obot et al 2006; UNEP 2011)
Literatures on the bioremediation of diesel contaminated soil with earthworms are quite few, this study aims to explore the potentials of Eudrilus eugeniae on the bioremediation of heavy metals and hydrocarbons in diesel contaminated soil
Bioaccumulation factor (BAF) for heavy metals For this study, bioaccumulation factor was evaluated as the concentration of the heavy metals in the earthworms in relation to the concentration in soil after 90 days of the experiment
Summary
Activities in the over half a century operations in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria has resulted in unprecedented release of hydrocarbons and associated pollutants including heavy metals into the Niger Delta environment from refine and unrefined petroleum products (Obot et al 2006; UNEP 2011). Ekperusi and Aigbodion SpringerPlus (2015)4:540 hydrocarbons and associated compounds like BTEX (Salanitro et al 1997) due to their carcinogenic and mutagenic properties (EPA 2012) and the possibility of several other diseases such as white blood cell count (Kirkeleit et al 2006; Lewander and Aleguas 2007) Hodgkins lymphoma, aplastic anemia, acute leukemia, bone marrow abnormalities (Kasper et al 2004) and myelodysplastic syndrome (Smith 2010; IARC 2012) These considerable health effects have made government, industry and scientists to sustain the zeal to find novel approach towards restoring polluted environment. Considerable research has been published in the area of bioremediation with diverse modifications for the treatment of a wide range of contaminants in both laboratory and field studies (Dash 1978; Hutchins et al 1992; Hoff 1993; Adriano et al 1999; Singer et al 2001; Barker and Bryson 2002; Cheng and Wong 2002; Singleton et al 2003; Tharakan et al 2004; Tomoko et al 2005; Zorn et al 2005; Ceccanti et al 2006; Chris 2007; Hongjian 2009; Iordache and Borza 2012)
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