Evaluation of Phytoremediation and Bioremediation for Sandy Soil Contaminated with Petroleum Hydrocarbons

Abstract

 Abstract—Soil contamination with petroleum hydrocarbons causes many problems for the surrounding environment. The current research aims at studying the performance of different in-situ remediation methods for the removal of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) from sandy soil at different levels of contamination. The remediation methods that were tested include phytoremediation using alfalfa, bioremediation using Pseudomonase putida, and a combination. The soil was spiked with TPH at different levels (2.5%, 5.0% and 10.0%). after 90 days of experiments, the different treatments were able to reduce the level of contamination in the sandy soil with efficiencies up to a maximum of 99.9% for phytoremediation, 98.7% for bioremediation, and 99.0% for the combination method. The experimental results showed that the TPH remediation followed the first-order kinetics.