• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.72-79
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• 2016

Bioremediation is one of the most effective ways to remediate TPH-contaminated sites. However, under actual field conditions that are not at the optimum temperature, degradation of microorganisms is generally reduced, which is why the efficiency of biodegradation is known to be significantly affected by the soil temperature. Therefore, in this study, the labscale experiment was conducted using indigenous crude oil degrading microorganisms isolated from crude oil contaminated site to evaluate the remediation efficiency. Crude oil degrading microorganisms were isolated from crude oil contaminated soil and temperature, which is a significant factor affecting the remediation efficiency of land farming, was adjusted to evaluate the microbial crude oil degrading ability, degradation time, and remediation efficiency. In order to assess the field applicability, the remediation efficiency was evaluated using crude oil contaminated soil (average TPH concentration of 10,000 mg/kg or more) from the OO premises. Followed by the application of microorganisms at 30℃, the bioremediation process reduced its initial TPH concentration of 10,812 mg/kg down to 1,890 mg/kg in 56 days, which was about an 83% remediation efficiency. By analyzing the correlation among the total number of cells, the number of effective cells, and TPH concentration, it was found that the number of effective microorganisms drastically increased during the period from 10 to 20 days while there was a sharp decrease in TPH concentration. Therefore, we confirmed the applicability of land farming with isolated microorganisms consortium to crude oil contaminated site, which is also expected to be applicable to bioremediation of other recalcitrant materials.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.161-167
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• 2011

We previously showed that five strains belonging to Pseudomonas could remove TPH (Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons) efficiently when they are applied to TPH-contaminated soil. We optimized the bioremediation condition using different hydrocarbons and nutrients conditions to improve the efficiency. We setup lab-scale column bioreactor to monitor TPH and diesel removal efficiency. When we applied five Pseudomonas sp. mixtures to 25,000 $mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$ TPH-contaminated soil (diesel 10,000 $mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$, kerosene 10,000 $mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$, gasoline 5,000 $mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$) with the optimum condition, 76.3% of TPH removal efficiency was shown for 25 days. Meanwhile, in the application of five Pseudomonas sp. mixtures to 20,000 $mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$ diesel-contaminated soil with the optimum condition, 99.2% of diesel removal efficiency was shown for 40 days. In the application to lab-scale bioreactor with five high efficiency bacteria, 88.5% of TPH removal efficiency was shown for 45 days. Based on the results from this study, we confirmed that this mixed Pseudomonas sp. consortium might improve the bioremediation of TPH in contaminated soil, the efficacy can be controlled by improving the nutrients. We also confirmed that the nutrients and oxygen for biodegradation of TPH could contribute on the management and control of applications of these strains for the study of bioremediation of TPH-contaminated soil.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.161-166
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• 2002

Bioremediation of trace metals in groundwater may require the manipulation of redox conditions via the injection of a carbon source. To simulate the numerous biogeochemical processes that will occur during the bioremediation of trace-metal-contaminated aquifers, a reactive transport model has been developed. The model consists of a set of coupled mass balance equations, accounting for advection, hydrodynamic dispersion, and a kinetic formulation of the biological or chemical transformations affecting an organic substrate, electron acceptors, corresponding reduced species, and trace metal contaminants of interest, uranium in this study. The redox conditions of the domain are characterized by estimating the pE, based on the concentrations of the dominant terminal electron acceptor and its corresponding reduced specie. This pE and the concentrations of relevant species we then used by a modified version of MINTEQA2, which calculates the speciation/sorption and precipitation/dissolution of the species of interest under equilibrium conditions. Kinetics of precipitation/dissolution processes are described as being proportional to the difference between the actual and calculated equilibrium concentration.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.244-247
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• 2012

To remediate lead (Pb)-contaminated soils, it is proposed that microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) would provide the best alternative to other remediation technologies. In this study, Pb bioremediation in soils was investigated using the calcite-precipitating bacterium Kocuria flava. Results indicate that the Pb is primarily associated with the carbonate fraction in bioremediated soil samples. The bioavailability of Pb in contaminated soil was reduced so that the potential stress of Pb was alleviated. This research provides insight into the geochemistry occurring in the MICP-based Pb-remediated soils, which will help in remediation decisions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.153-162
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• 2000

A field study was performed to test effectiveness of a bloluminescent genetically engineered microorganism (GEM) for bioremediation process monitoring and control. The study employed Pseudomonas fluorescens HK44 that was the first strain approved for field application in the U.S. for bioremediation purposes. HK44 contains lux gene fused within a naphthalene degradative pathway, allowing this GEM to bioluminesce as it degrades naphthalene as well as substituted naphthalenes and other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) , Results showed that HK44 was maintained in both PAH-contarninated and uncontaminated soils even 660 days after inoculation. HK44 was able to produce bioluminescence in response to PAHs in soil. Although effectiveness of chemical remediation was not assessed due to heterogeneous distribution of contaminants, decreased concentration of naphthalene was shown in the soils, Taken together, HK44 was useful for in situ bioremediation process monitoring and control. This work is so far the only field release of a GEM for bioremediation purposes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.107-118
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• 2000

For the last several decades, the fate of organic pollutants has been extensively studied in natural environments with emphasis on sorption and desorption phenomena. Although the mechanisms involved are not clear yet there is a consensus about the existence of hysteresis in the sorption and desorption of organic pollutants. Furthermore, it is found that hysteresis is the outcome of slow nonequilibrium sorption of organic pollutants, which results in the formation of desorption-resistant fractions of the pollutants. Desorption-resistant fractions may increase as a function of the residence time of the pollutants in the environments. Field monitoring data show a slow but continuous decline of chemicals applied to soil, followed by little or no subsequent disappearance. One plausible explanation for such resistance to biodegradation, desorption, or extraction can be attributed the gradual movement of organic pollutants to less accessible remote sites inside the matrix with time. This phenomenon has been termed sequestration or aging. The fact that some pollutants are sequestered in soil with time may have a great impact on bioremediation and risk assessment, Some portion of the resistant pollutants may still be present in the environments after bioremediation. It requires vigorous means to completely remove the aged portion that may not be further bioavailable. However, precaution should be taken since aging is not always evident. Aging seems to be soil and chemical specific.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.484-494
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• 2019

This paper presents a preliminary investigation of the optimum nutrients combination required for bioremediation of spent-engine oil contaminated soil using Box-Behnken-Design. Three levels of cow-manure, poultry-manure and inorganic nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium (NPK) fertilizer were used as independent biostimulants variables; while reduction in total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) and total soil porosity (TSP) response as dependent variables were monitored under 6-week incubation. Ex-situ data generated in assessing the degree of biodegradation in the soil were used to develop second-order quadratic regression models for both TPH and TSP. The two models were found to be highly significant and good predictors of the response fate of TPH-removal and TSP-improvement, as indicated by their coefficients of determination: $R^2=0.9982$ and $R^2=1.000$ at $p{\leq}0.05$, respectively. Validation of the models showed that there was no significant difference between the predicted and observed values of TPH-removal and TSP-improvement. Using numerical technique, the optimum values of the biostimulants required to achieve a predicted maximum TPH-removal and TSP-improvement of 67.20 and 53.42%-dry-weight per kg of the contaminated soil were as follows: cow-manure - 125.0 g, poultry-manure - 100.0 g and NPK-fertilizer - 10.5 g. The observed values at this optimum point were 66.92 and 52.65%-dry-weight as TPH-removal and TSP-improvement, respectively.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.1843-1845
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• 2007

As the preservation law of soil environment has reinforced, several soil remediation projects have been performing for railroad sites. One of the main sources of soil contamination is the leakage of diesel from locomotives or underground storage tank. Also, the lubricant used to maintain turnouts causes railroad soil contamination. The purpose of this study was to develop the analysis and the remediation method for lubricant-contaminated soil. The lubricant in the contaminated soil was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively by TLC (Thin Layer Chromatography) and GC (Gas Chromatography), respectively. The organic pollutants were removed from the soil using microorganisms degrading lubricant. Hereafter it will be necessary to apply this bioremediation method in the railroad field.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.09a
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• pp.164-167
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• 2004

To investigate the chemical and microbiological characteristics of groundwater and surface waters in contaminated sites, hydrochemical and microbial community analysis were executed. Different indigenous bacteria were observed at 4 contaminated sites and this is considered to decompose the contaminants of groundwater. The research results showed the close relationship between hydrochemistry and microbial characteristics and those are used for the information of natural attenuation and enhanced bioremediation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.28-30
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• 2005

Because of high population diversity in soil microbial communities, it is difficult to accurately assess the capability of biodegradation of toxicant by microbes in soil and sediment. Identifying biodegradative microorganisms is an important step in designing and analyzing soil bioremediation. To remove non-important noise information, it is necessary to selectively enrich genomes of biodegradative microorganisms fromnon-biodegradative populations. For this purpose, a stable isotope probing (SIP) technique was applied in selectively harvesting the genomes of biphenyl-utilizing bacteria from soil microbial communities. Since many biphenyl-using microorganisms are responsible for aerobic PCB degradation In soil and sediments, biphenyl-utilizing bacteria were chosen as the target organisms. In soil microcosms, 13C-biphenyl was added as a selective carbon source for biphenyl users, According to $13C-CO_2$ analysis by GC-MS, 13C-biphenyl mineralization was detected after a 7-day of incubation. The heavy portion of DNA(13C-DNA) was separated from the light portion of DNA (12C-DNA) using equilibrium density gradient ultracentrifuge. Bacterial community structure in the 13C-DNAsample was analyzed by t-RFLP (terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism) method. The t-RFLP result demonstates that the use of SIP efficiently and selectively enriched the genomes of biphenyl degrading bacteria from non-degradative microbes. Furthermore, the bacterial diversity of biphenyl degrading populations was small enough for environmental genomes tools (metagenomics and DNA microarrays) to be used to detect functional (biphenyl degradation) genes from soil microbial communities, which may provide a significant progress in assessing microbial capability of PCB bioremediation in soil and groundwater.