Assessment of Surfactant-Enhanced Bioremediation of Soils Containing StronglySorbing Hydrocarbons

摘要

Biodegradation of phenanthrene was studied in soil slurry reactors in thepresence and absence of a surfactant solution. Results showed that the presence of surfactants slowed the initial biodegradation rate of phenanthrene, but increased the total mass of phenanthrene degraded over a four day period by 30%. A mathematical model was developed to simulate the dynamics of the biodegradation of low solubility hydrocarbons in the presence of soils and surfactants. Processes such as the desorption kinetics of the hydrocarbon from soil, the sorption of the surfactant onto soil and its effect on the sorption of the hydrocarbon, and the bioavailability of the hydrocarbon in different phases of the system are included in the model formulation. The experimental results were measured independently. The model was used to investigate the effect on the overall biodegradation of phenanthrene due to different operating conditions. Simulation results showed that there is a system-specific optimum surfactant concentration, above which bioremediation is hindered.