A Preliminary Study of Bioremediation on Oil-Contaminated Soil Using Bacteria and Organic Manure

Oil hydrocarbons are widespread in soil which causes contamination and is a major threat to the ecosystem. In the total oil production around the world, about 10% of it is percolating into the environment which causes pollution. The maximum amount of oil-contaminated soil sites had not been rehabilitated, as the remediation process is expensive though these contaminants possess extreme threats to the environment and alter the geotechnical properties. It is necessary to remediate and reclaim the contaminated soil to improve its properties by suitable methods for the safe and economic construction of structures on it. Bioremediation of these contaminated soil is found to easy, safe, and cost-effective and yields promising results with higher efficiencies. It is an eco-friendly technique in which the biological agents are used to transform the contaminated soil into non-toxic forms. The nitrogen sources from the microbes are used to support the microbial biodegradation of the hydrocarbons. In this research, an attempt has been made to remediate the contaminated soil using bacteria, cow dung, and goat manure independently and to study their interaction with the physical and chemical characteristics of the remediated soil. The results obtained confirm that the oil content has been drastically brought down, as the remediation stimulants are introduced in the contaminated soil.