Bioremediation Study of Hydrocarbons-Contaminated Soil through a Fixed Bed

Algeria is a major producer of petroleum. This activity leads to large quantities of petroleum products entering the environment posing serious problems and risks to natural ecosystems. The present study deals with the remediation of oil polluted soil using the bioremediation process. It aims to evaluate the airflow injection effect inside a bioreactor used to treat hydrocarbon-contaminated soil collected from southern Algeria. Biostimulation process, by addition of specific nutrients, mainly N and P, was applied, considering a C: N: P ratio of 100:10:1 as a reference.  The different airflow. used were 0.795, 1.06, 1.325, 2.12 and 2.62 L./min. Moreover, in order to study abiotic loss of petroleum hydrocarbons, the soil was treated with HgCl2, and this for all five applied airflows. The airflow 1.06 L./min showed the highest TPH biodegradation percentage (46.45%) compared to the 0.795 (32.74%), 1.325 (24.30%), 2.12 (16.16%) and 2.62 (6.28%) L./min. In the same conditions, abiotic loss during control experiments achieved between 1.01% and 4.14% Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) decrease.