Bioremediation and Kinetic Process of Contaminated Soil with Hydrocarbon Using Bacillus Substilis and Aspergillus Niger

In this work, the physico-chemical properties of Khana crude oil contaminated soils, are experimentally determined with respect to ASTM standard, as well the crude oil contaminated soils are remediated using Bacillus substilis and Aspergillus Niger. The kinetic parameters of the soils are as well ascertained using a well-developed biochemical model; estimating the concentration of the contaminants at time bases. During the experimental process, crude oil contaminated soil samples (1kg each) were weighed into 7 different bioreactors. 25ml to 75ml of crude oil was added to each bioreactor containing Kpean and Buan noncontaminated soil samples of Ogonilands, and mixed thoroughly as an act of contaminating the soil samples. The set-up was allowed to stand for one week for assimilation. Then 50 ml of microbial broth of 1.0X106 cfu/g loads were added to 6 of the 7 bioreactors, the other left as control. Samples were kept under an incubation period of 56 days at room temperature (25oC – 30oC) during which samples were collected for GC analysis at 7-day intervals to determine the TPH content. The results of the study show that the degradation of the amended samples was high 92.9% for Kpean and 95.9% for Buan soil. The kinetic parameters were 00.0017hr-1 and 0.0016 hr-1, respectively. These results are consistent with previous empirical findings of k= 0.00207 hr-1, and k = 0.0013 hr-1. The results of this study showed that this consortium of microbes is able to effectively degrade petroleum hydrocarbon, hence can be employed for large scale bioremediation process.