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TECHNICAL REPORTS
Bioremediation and Biodegradation

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Removal from Soil by Surfactant Solubilization and Phanerochaete chrysosporium Oxidation

Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering, 4 Engineering Drive 4, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 129791

* Corresponding author (chejpo{at}nus.edu.sg)

Received for publication November 22, 2001. Surfactant soil washing can remove polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from contaminated soil, and the white rot fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium Burdsall in Burdsall & Eslyn, can oxidize PAHs. The objective of this study was to develop a novel bioremediation technology using a combination of abiological surfactant soil washing followed by PAH biological oxidation in soil washwater using P. chrysosporium in a rotating biological contactor (RBC) reactor. Soil used for experimentation was an 11-month aged contaminated soil spiked with a total of nine PAHs: acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, chrysene, benzo(a)pyrene, dibenz(ah)anthracene, and benzo(ghi)perylene. After 11 months of aging, recovery percentages of high molecular weight PAHs [i.e., from chrysene to benzo(ghi)perylene] were greater than 86%, while those of low molecular weight PAHs (i.e., from acenaphthene to pyrene) were less than 19%. Total removal efficiency for any of the nine PAHs was greater than 90% using a combination of surfactant soil washing and P. chrysosporium oxidation of soil washwater in the RBC reactor when used in batch operation, and greater than 76% when used in continuous operation. The treatment of PAH-contaminated soil using a combination of surfactant soil washing and subsequent PAH removal from the resultant washwater in an RBC reactor, in the presence of immobilized P. chrysosporium, permits (i) a rapid abiological cleanup of soil for compliance with relevant soil quality standards and (ii) PAH biological removal in soil washwater for compliance with aqueous discharge standards.

Abbreviations: PAH, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon • RBC, rotating biological contactor