Status quo of soil petroleum contamination and evolution of bioremediation

Abstract

Along with the rapid development of oil industries internationally, petroleum prospecting and exploitation activities are growing intensively. Especially in China, with the fastest economic growth in the world and shortage of petroleum resources, we are leading the practices of petroleum deep exploitation. Obviously, the risk of damage to the natural environment from these activities is high. Oil contamination in soils and groundwater is becoming a big issue along with pesticide pollution, which makes organic pollution prevention and control (OPPC) much more complex. In this paper, based on recent research on oil-contaminated soil at home and abroad, we make comments on the remediation technologies for polluted soil, emphasizing bioremediation techniques and degradation mechanisms in order to push forward research into bound organic pollution prevention and control (OPPC), especially in China. © 2011 China University of Petroleum (Beijing) and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.