Bioremediation of petroleum-contaminated soil

Abstract

Environmental pollution with petroleum and petrochemical products has attracted much attention in recent decades. Contamination of the natural environment with oil derivatives causes soil, including arable land, to degrade, while the occurrence of many spots and areas of contamination may result in underground environments. This has been shown to have harmful effects on the environment and human beings at large. Improving our knowledge of the effects and remediation of oil-related pollution therefore is important for the future of developing countries with respect to the sustainable use of the environment. Bioremediation is one of the most popular remediation technologies in use due to the relatively low cost. It is a rapidly developing field of environmental restoration, utilizing natural microbial activity to reduce the concentration and/or toxicity of various chemical substances such as petroleum products and aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. Biodegradation is a natural process carried out by soil and aquatic microorganisms, mostly bacteria and fungi. Certain bacterial strains have a demonstrated ability to break down or transform the chemical substances present in petroleum products. The goal of oil-spill bioremediation methods is to provide favorable conditions of oxygen, temperature and nutrients to maximize biological hydrocarbon breakdown. This paper is a short overview of petroleum hydrocarbon biodegradation and bioremediation.