Determination and Bioremediation of Petroleum Pollutant in Soil of Persian Gulf Coast

The amount of petroleum pollutant in soil of Persian Gulf coast at 8 selected stations were determined and showed the concentration between 14.3-143.6 mg/kg. Nickel has the highest concentration level of heavy metal with 58.6 mg/kg in Emam Hassan area at 50 kilometers of west Boushehr port. Bioremediation of contaminated soil were studied in two medium in slurry and solid state fermentation and 8 bacteria types were isolated. Four species: EM2, SH, GN1 and GN3 presented optimal PAH removal efficiency. Biodegradation efficiency under slurry condition was found after 45 days which during this period, naphthalene and phenanthrene showed 73% and 66% removal efficiency respectively. Under solid state conditions, microbial activity of mixed and pure culture were studied. The results presented that mixed culture due to high ability of different strains for growth, showed higher degradability compared to pure culture, but due to insufficient mixing under solid state condition, mass transfer velocity of nutrient reduces to the level that caused reduction in cell activity, so removal efficiency under slurry condition was found higher than solid state respevtively