ASSESSMENT OF GENOTOXIC ACTIVITY OF PETROLEUM HYDROCARBON-BIOREMEDIATED SOIL

The relationship between toxicity and soil contamination must be understood to develop reliable indicators of environmental restoration for bioremediation. Two bacterial rapid bioassays: SOS chromotest and umu-test with and without metabolic activation (S-9 mixture) were used to evaluate genotoxicity of petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soil following bioremediation treatment. The soil was taken from an engineered biopile at the Czor Polish oil refinery. The bioremediation process in the biopile lasted 4 years, and the toxicity measurements were done after this treatment. Carcinogens detected in the soil, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), were reduced to low concentrations (2 mg/kg dry wt) by the bioremediation process. Genotoxicity was not observed for soils tested with and without metabolic activation by a liver homogenate (S-9 mixture). However, umu-test was more sensitive than SOS-chromotest in the analysis of petroleum hydrocarbon-bioremediated soil. Analytical results of soil used in the bioassays confirmed that the bioremediation process reduced 81 percent of the petroleum hydrocarbons including PAHs. We conclude that the combined test systems employed in this study are useful tools for the genotoxic examination of remediated petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soil.