Enhancing Bioremediation of Diesel Oil and Gasoline in Soil Amended with an Agroindustry Sludge

Abstract

This paper presents a study of the bioremediation of diesel oil and gasoline by a series of controlled laboratory tests. Sludge from an agroindustry was used to enhance biore-mediation of both gasoline and diesel oil mixed with a soil mass to compare its efficiency with that of a mineral fertilizer. Effects of soil microbiology and soil mixtures were investigated by means of evolution of CO₂, micro-organism populations at 90 days, pH at 65 and 95 days, mineral nitrogen, and gas chromatographic analysis of the benzene, toluene, methyl tertiary butyl ether, C₈, and C_9+total aromatics at the end of the experiments. Treatments containing sludge showed better soil conditions after 170 days of treatment (inorganic nitrogen and microbiota activity) compared with gasoline and diesel oil without amendments. Samples had no detectable traces of the measured hydrocarbons at 170 days of treatment.