Biological removal of PAHs by bacteria from contaminated soils

ABSTRACT

In this study, the potential biodegradation of the four isolated strains from oil fields of Bushehr was investigated in the presence of three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: anthracene, phenanthrene, and pyrene in the carbon-free minimal medium culture. Moreover, the effects of environmental conditions such as pH value, temperature, nutrients, and salinity were studied. The results showed that approximately 80% of the hydrocarbons were remediated after three weeks. It was also found that at optimized amounts of the environmental factors the process had the best performance (pH 7.5, temperature 35°C, nitrogen5 g/L, phosphors 2 g/L, and salinity 1%).

KEYWORDS:

• Bioremediation
• Bushehr City
• environmental factors
• microorganisms
• PAHs

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the technical support provided by Microbiology laboratory of medical science university Hamadan, Iran.