THE EVOLUTION OF TOTAL NUMBER OF FUNGI IN SOIL POLLUTED WITH CRUDE OIL

For bioremediation to be successful, the bioremediation methods depend on having the right microbes in the right place with the right environmental factors for degradation to occur. The right microbes are bacteria or fungi, which have the physiological and metabolic capabilities to degrade the pollutants. Recent studies have reported several bacteria and filamentous fungi species with the capacity to mineralize or to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons. Bioremediation can be done on site, is often less expensive and site disruption is minimal, it eliminates waste permanently, eliminates long-term liability, and has greater public acceptance, with regulatory encouragement, and it can be coupled with other physical or chemical treatment methods. Chemical pollution of the soil environment has become a major source of concern. Crude oil bioremediation of soils is limited by the bacteria activity in degrading the spills hydrocarbons. In this paper are presented the results obtained in a bioremediation laboratory experiment. The aim of this study is to enhance the bioremediation of soils polluted with crude oil by adding the natural biodegradable product and bacterial inoculum. A natural biodegradable product and bacterial inoculum was used for total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) removal from an artificial polluted soil. Soil polluted with 50000 mg/kg of TPH was treated with 0.25%, respective 0.5% and/or bacterial inoculum to increase the biodegradability rate. Also, the soil contaminated with 100000 mg/kg of TPH was treated with 0.5%, respective 1% and/or bacterial inoculum. The main objective of this work is to accelerate the biodegradation processes. The enhancement of petroleum hydrocarbons degradation was achieved under natural product treatment and bacterial inoculum. The bacterial inoculum was used to enrich indigenous microbes to enhance biodegradation rate in the green house experiment. In soil excessively polluted with crude oil, bacterial population size in conditioned variant with Ecosol maximum dose (1%) presented values comparable to those of inoculated variants, demonstrating the protective and stimulation effect of soil bacteria, including those involved in the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons exercised by organic compound applied Ecosol. At each phase of the study, the natural biodegradable product was found to significantly enhance the biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons.