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Bioremediation Enhances the Pollutant Removal Efficiency of Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE) in Treating Petroleum Drilling Waste

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Abstract

Contamination due to improper disposal of oilfield drilling waste is a serious environmental problem all over the world. This study used bench-scale experimental columns to investigate the effectiveness of combining soil vapor extraction (SVE) with bioremediation (bioaugmentation plus biostimulation) in treating drilling waste from onshore oil wells. The drilling waste used in this study was heavily contaminated with a total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration of 2.5 × 104 mg/kg. After 154 h of SVE operation, the TPH concentrations decreased by 4.7–23.6 %, and continuous SVE operation did not significantly reduce the concentration of residual contaminants. Then, microbial consortium and inorganic nutrients (urea and K2HPO4) were employed further to enhance bioremediation, and after 216 h of bioremediation and SVE, 70 % of the residual TPH was removed. Bioremediation enhanced the overall pollutant removal efficiency by fully degrading low volatile compounds and transforming them into more volatile compounds which were extracted by SVE. Results from GC-MS analysis corroborated TPH concentration data showing the occurrence of biotransformation during SVE and bioremediation treatment. Overall, this study demonstrates that SVE combined with bioremediation is an effective technique for handling petroleum drilling waste.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Science Foundation of China University of Petroleum-Beijing (2462014YJRC016) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (21407180 and U1462201).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, Beijing Key Lab of Oil and Gas Pollution Control, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing, 102249, China

    Jie Ma, Yongqi Yang, Xiaoli Dai, Changgang Li, Qinghong Wang, Chunmao Chen, Guangxu Yan & Shaohui Guo

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  1. Jie Ma
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  2. Yongqi Yang
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  3. Xiaoli Dai
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  4. Changgang Li
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  5. Qinghong Wang
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  6. Chunmao Chen
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  7. Guangxu Yan
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  8. Shaohui Guo
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Correspondence to Guangxu Yan.

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Ma, J., Yang, Y., Dai, X. et al. Bioremediation Enhances the Pollutant Removal Efficiency of Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE) in Treating Petroleum Drilling Waste. Water Air Soil Pollut 227, 465 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-016-3109-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-016-3109-3

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