Substrate Ultilization for Bioremediation of Hydrocarbon Compounds
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Date
2012-06-20
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Abstract
We design, evaluate and compare the biodegradation performance of the application of compost (made up of some dead plants), Poultry manure (Organic) and inorganic chemical fertilizer (Urea) in the bioremediation of soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbon. Four different levels of nitrogen application were augmented for each of the substrates. A combination of treatments consisting of the application of poultry manure, Chemical fertilizer, and Compost was evaluated ex situ during a period of 8 weeks of remediation. The aim was to (i) find the best performance of substrate for the process, (ii) the level of nitrogen which stimulate performance (ii) find if there exists a significant difference in both the substrate and the level of nitrogen (iv) the best combination of substrate and level of nitrogen good for bioremediation process using ANOVA and Tukey’s test of difference. Contaminated soil containing oil and total petroleum hydrocarbon with different levels was bioremediated by blending of the hydrocarbon contaminated soil with portions of compost, poultry manure and fertilizer. After eight weeks of remediation, the most efficient contributor to hydrocarbon decomposition was poultry manure, followed by compost and fertilizer respectively. Moreover, in all the four (4) fixed nitrogen levels, it was found that, the higher the level of nitrogen the better the rate of degradation. For the substrate used, poultry manure-hydrocarbon blend recorded the least residual of Oil/ grease and TPH values followed by the compost substrate and with fertilizer blend recording the highest.
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A Thesis submitted to the Department of Mathematics
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Master of Philosophy.