• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2013

The landfarming treatment for the remediation of the petroleum contaminated soil at the returned U.S. Military bases was investigated in this study. Specifically, the bioaugmentation performance using various commercially available petroleum-degrading bacteria was evaluated and the directions for enhancing the performance of the landfarming treatment were suggested. The environmental factors of the soils at the returned U.S. Military bases chosen for remediation indicate that the landfarming treatment can be used as the remediation technique; however, the addition of nitrogen or phosphorus is required. The lab-scale landfarming treatment tests using the model soil and the site soil showed that the degradation efficiency was greater with the model soil than the site soil and that the treatment performance was not affected by the number of bacteria present in the soil in the range of $10^6-10^{12}$ CFU/g. These results suggest that the successful landfarming treatment depends on the petroleum degradability of bacteria used and the environmental conditions during the treatment rather than the number of petroleum-degrading bacteria used.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.263-268
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• 2017

The significance of maintaining the soil environment is gradually increasing owing to soil and underground water contamination by petroleum leak accidents. However, the purification of soil is an expensive and more time-consuming process than the purification of contaminated water and air. Moreover, determining the source and people responsible for soil pollution gets often embroiled in legal conflicts, further delaying the cleanup process of the contaminate site. Generally, TPH (total petroleum hydrocarbon) pattern analysis is used to determine the petroleum species and polluter responsible for soil contamination. However, this process has limited application for petroleum products with a similar TPH pattern. In this study, we analyze the TPH pattern and specific sectional ratio (${\sim}C_{10}$, $C_{10}-C_{12}$, $C_{12}-C_{36}$, and $C_{36}{\sim}$) of various domestic petroleum products to identify the petroleum product responsible for soil contamination. Also, we perform BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylene) quantitative analysis and determine B:T:E:X ratio using GC-MS. The results show that gasoline grade 1 and 2 have a similar TPH pattern but different BTEX values and ratios. This means that BTEX analysis can be used as a new method to purify soil pollution. This complementary TPH and BTEX method proposed in this study can be used to identify the petroleum species and polluters present in the contaminated soil.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.9-17
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• 2014

This paper reported the use of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), and the culture-based method in the intrinsic bioremediation study at a petroleum contaminated site. The study showed that phenol hydroxylase gene was detected in groundwater contaminated with benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene isomers (BTEX) and methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE). This indicated that intrinsic bioremediation occurred at the site. DGGE analyses revealed that the petroleum-hydrocarbon plume caused the variation in microbial communities. MTBE degraders including Pseudomonas sp. NKNU01, Bacillus sp. NKNU01, Klebsiella sp. NKNU01, Enterobacter sp. NKNU01, and Enterobacter sp. NKNU02 were isolated from the contaminated groundwater using the cultured-based method. Among these five strains, Enterobacter sp. NKNU02 is the most effective stain at degrading MTBE without the addition of pentane. The MTBE biodegradation experiment indicated that the isolated bacteria were affected by propane. Biodegradation of MTBE was decreased but not totally inhibited in the mixtures of BTEX. Enterobacter sp. NKNU02 degraded about 60% of MTBE in the bioreactor study. Tert-butyl alcohol (TBA), acetic acid, 2-propanol, and propenoic acid were detected using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry during MTBE degraded by the rest cells of Enterobacter sp. NKNU02. The effectiveness of bioremediation of MTBE was assessed for potential field-scale application.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2002.07c
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• pp.1893-1896
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• 2002

Remediation Selection Expert System (RSES) is a rule-based expert system which is used far the selection of remediation techniques fur petroleum contaminated sites. In this paper, we describe a fuzzy logic-based sub-system: Site Characterization Sub-System (SCSS). It is an enhancement of the RSES, which is used to analyze the hydraulic properties of contaminated sites. This paper focuses on an explanation on how to apply fuzzy set theory for identification of soil types and hydraulic properties of a contaminated site. To illustrate application of fuzzy set theory to the problem, two sample cases are presented in detail.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2015

The objectives of this study were to calculate the radius of influence (ROI) of well for an air-sparging (AS)/soil vapor extraction (SVE) system and to evaluate the applicability of the system applied for the remediation of the petroleum contaminated rail site. For air permeability test, three monitoring wells were installed at a location of 1.3 m, 2.3 m, 3.0 m from the extraction well. And the pressure of each monitoring well was measured by extracting air from the extraction well with the pressure and flow of $(-)2,600mmH_2O$ and $1.58m^3/min$. The ROI for an extraction well was calculated as 4.31 m. Air was injected into the injection well with the pressure and flow of $3,500mmH_2O$ and $0.6m^3/min$ to estimate the radius of influence for oxygen transfer. Oxygen concentrations of air from three monitoring wells were measured. The ROI of an injection well for oxygen transfer was calculated as 3.46 m. The 28 extraction wells and 19 injection wells were installed according to the ROI calculated. The AS/SVE system was operated eight hours a day for five months. The rail site was contaminated with the petroleum and concentrations of benzene, toluene, and xylene were over the 'Worrisome Standard' of the 'Soil Environment Conservation Act'. The contaminated area was estimated as $732m^2$ and contaminants were dispersed up to (-)3 m from the ground. During the operation period, soil samples were collected from 5 points and analyzed periodically. With the AS/SVE system operation, concentrations of benzene, toluene, and xylene were decreased from 7.5 mg/kg to 2.0 mg/kg, from 32.0 mg/kg to 23.0 mg/kg, from 35.5 mg/kg to 23.0 mg/kg, respectively. The combined AS/SVE system applied to the rail site contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) exhibited a high applicability. But the concentration of contaminants in soil were fluctuated due to the heterogeneous of soil condition. Also the effect of the remediation mechanisms was not clearly identified.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.1339-1347
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• 2010

In this study, the identity and distribution of plants and the structure of their associated rhizobacterial communities were examined in an oil-contaminated site. The number of plant species that formed a community or were scattered was 24. The species living in soil highly contaminated with total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) (9,000-4,5000 mg/g-soil) were Cynodon dactylon, Persicaria lapathifolia, and Calystegia soldanella (a halophytic species). Among the 24 plant species, the following have been known to be effective for oil removal: C. dactylon, Digitaria sanguinalis, and Cyperus orthostachyus. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) profile analysis showed that the following pairs of plant species had highly similar (above 70%) rhizobacterial community structures: Artemisia princeps and Hemistepta lyrata; C. dactylon and P. lapathifolia; Carex kobomugi and Cardamine flexuosa; and Equisetum arvense and D. sanguinalis. The major groups of rhizobacteria were Beta-proteobacteria, Gamma-proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Actinobacteria, and unknown. Based on DGGE analysis, P. lapathifolia, found for the first time in this study growing in the presence of high TPH, may be a good species for phytoremediation of oil-contaminated soils and in particular, C. soldanella may be useful for soils with high TPH and salt concentrations. Overall, this study suggests that the plant roots, regardless of plant species, may have a similar influence on the bacterial community structure in oil-contaminated soil.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.333-344
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• 2016

In this study, the efficiency of natural attenuation was evaluated through the hydrogeological characteristics such as monitoring and analyses, tracer tests, chemical composition analysis of the groundwater at a military site contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbon in korea. Also, based on the results, the natural attenuation rate by distance and the expressed biodegradation capacity(EBC) was evaluated. The regression slope of -0.0248($K/V_x$) and bulk attenuation rate of $1.7{\times}10^{-3}/day$ were calculated respectively. The range of total expressed biodegradation capacity(EBC) of BTEX was shown from 9.1 mg/L to 10.0 mg/L(average 9.7 mg/L). It was confirmed that the denitrification which was expressed about 63.6% in the total EBC is the largest influence redox process. Consequently, the biodegradation capacity is considered to be sufficient for remediation in the BTEX average concentration of 1.326 mg/L.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.79-87
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• 2013

An unstable yet efficient phenanthrene-degrading bacterium strain Ph-3 was isolated from a petroleum-contaminated site at the Mathura Oil Refinery, India. The strain was identified as Pseudomonas sp. using a polyphasic approach. An analysis of the intermediates and assays of the degradative enzymes from a crude extract of phenanthrene-grown cells showed a novel and previously unreported pattern of 1, 2-dihydroxy naphthalene and salicylic acid production. While strain Ph-3 lost its phenanthrene- degrading potential during successive transfers on a rich medium, it maintained this trait in oligotrophic soil conditions under the stress of the pollutant and degraded phenanthrene efficiently in soil microcosms. Although the maintenance and in vitro study of unstable phenotypes are difficult and such strains are often missed during isolation, purification, and screening, these bacteria constitute a substantial fraction of the microbial community at contaminated sites and play an important role in pollutant degradation during biostimulation or monitored natural attenuation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.360-363
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• 2003

Bioremediation is often used for in situ remediation of petroleum-contaminated site. We studied the microbial degradation of hydrocarbon in an artificially diesel contaminated soil in laboratory microcosm. In control soil, about 30% of the initial TPH was diminished and the degradation of diesel oil was significantly enhanced by the addition of bioremediation agent (70% of TPH reduction).

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.819-823
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• 2008

Microorganisms isolated from petroleum contaminated site were tested for their ability to grow on JP-8 by culturing them on the culture medium that contains JP-8 as a carbon source. The microorganism which grew on JP-8 containing minimal salt medium was separated and identified as Rhodococcus fascians. Changes in JP-8 biodegradation of R. fascians that was isolated from petroleum contaminated site was investigated with various inoculums sizes, JP-8 concentrations, medium pHs, and culture temperatures. The amount of JP-8 was analyzed by TPH using Gas Chromatography.