Degradability of n-alkanes during ex situ natural bioremediation of soil contaminated by heavy residual fuel oil (mazut)

Abstract

It is well known that during biodegradation of oil in natural geological conditions, or oil pollutants in the environment, a degradation of hydrocarbons occurs according to the well defined sequence. For example, the major changes during the degradation process of n-alkanes occur in the second, slight and third, moderate level (on the biodegradation scale from 1 to 10). According to previous research, in the fourth, heavy level, when intensive changes of phenanthrene and its methyl isomers begin, n-alkanes have already been completely removed. In this paper, the ex situ natural bioremediation (unstimulated bioremediation, without addition of biomass, nutrient substances and biosurfactant) of soil contaminated with heavy residual fuel oil (mazut) was conducted during the period of 6 months. Low abundance of n-alkanes in the fraction of total saturated hydrocarbons in the initial sample (identification was possible only after concentration by urea adduction technique) showed that the investigated oil pollutant was at the boundary between the third and the fourth biodegradation level. During the experiment, an intense degradation of phenanthrene and its methyl-, dimethyl-and trimethyl-isomers was not followed by the removal of the remaining n-alkanes. The abundance of n-alkanes remained at the initial low level, even at end of the experiment when the pollutant reached one of the highest biodegradation levels. These results showed that the unstimulated biodegradation of some hydrocarbons, despite of their high biodegradability, do not proceed completely to the end, even at final degradation stages. In the condition of the reduced availability of some hydrocarbons, microorganisms tend to opt for less biodegradable but more accessible hydrocarbons.