An empirical correlation to estimate the bioventing degradation rate constant.

摘要

Bioventing is an efficient bioremediation technology for the clean-up of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soil. The design and implementation of a successful bioventing strategy for petroleum contaminated sites require accurate knowledge of the biodegradation rate. However, estimating the biodegradation rate is difficult as the rate constant varies from site to site due to changing site conditions, including soil type, biological activity and type of contaminants. Accordingly, bench scale biodegradation studies were completed using respirometers to measure first order biodegradation rate constants for gasoline in several soils over 30 days of incubation.A total of seven soils were tested at various gasoline concentrations with constant nutrient ratios and optimal water content. No microbial inhibition was observed for the range of gasoline concentrations studied. Analysis showed that the statistically significant parameters were the initial population of petroleum degrading microorganisms and the organic matter content. The developed empirical correlation is a simple tool that practitioners can use to estimate the biodegradation rate without conducting lengthy and expensive experiments. The information can be used to determine feasibility and cost of bioventing for a contaminated site as a remediation alternative.