The impact of Cow Dung Augmentation for Remediation of Crude Oil Polluted Soil by &lt;i&gt;Eleusine indica&lt;/i&gt;

Eb Essien,Mo Efeanacho,Ga Nwachukwu

doi:10.4314/jasem.v19i1.14

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the Enhancement of Remediation by Eleusine indica through augmentation of soil with cow dung. The soil was contaminated artificially with 50kg, 75kg and 100kg crude oil. over 8 weeks period. The study included an assessment of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metal (Cd and Pb) accumulation in soil of Eleusine indica .More PAHs was lost from soils augmented with cow dung than from the non-augmented soil. The heavy metals (lead) were in the augmented soils than from the non augmented soil, while heavy metal (cadmium) shows an insignificant amount. Significant differences were noticed between the augmented soils and the non-augmented soil (p<0.05). The results obtained in this study show that augmenting crude oil polluted soils with cow dung will enhance remediation and restoration of crude oil polluted soil. © JASEM Key words : Crude oil, Cow dung, Contamination, Heavy metals, Eleusine indica

Highlights

In Nigeria, the scourge of environmental pollution has reached a frightening scale in recent years especially in the Niger-Delta region, the largest delta in Africa and the third largest in the world where most of the crude oil in the country is found (HRW, 1999)
The present study sought to investigate the influence of augmenting soils with cow dung on the potentials of Eleusine indica to clean up crude oil polluted soil
The objectives were to determine if the addition of cow dung to crude oil polluted soil would enhance the ability of Eleusine indica to clean up such soil and to evaluate the impact of cow dung augmentation on the

Summary

Introduction

In Nigeria, the scourge of environmental pollution has reached a frightening scale in recent years especially in the Niger-Delta region, the largest delta in Africa and the third largest in the world where most of the crude oil in the country is found (HRW, 1999). Regarding the transportation of metals from roots to the aerial parts of the plants, some metals (especially Pb) tend to be accumulated in roots more than in aerial parts, because of some barriers that prevent their movement. Other metals, such as Cd, moves in plants (Garbisu and Alkorta, 2001). The ability of cow dung augmentation to enhance the growth of Eleusine indica grown in crude oil polluted soil had been reported in our earlier studies (Njoku et al, 2008). The present study sought to investigate the influence of augmenting soils with cow dung on the potentials of Eleusine indica to clean up crude oil polluted soil. The objectives were to determine if the addition of cow dung to crude oil polluted soil would enhance the ability of Eleusine indica to clean up such soil and to evaluate the impact of cow dung augmentation on the pAHs, heavy metals ( Pb and Cd) contents of crude oil polluted soil.the objective of this study is to investigate the ability of Eleusine indica to accumulate olycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and heavy metals

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion