Bioremediation of chlorophenol-contaminated sawmill soil using pilot-scale bioreactors under consecutive anaerobic-aerobic conditions.

Chlorophenols (CPs), including pentachlorophenol (PCP), are chemicals of concern due to their toxicity and persistence. Here we describe a successful reactor-based remediation of CP-contaminated soil and assess changes in the toxicity patterns and bacterial communities during the remediation. The remediation consisted of separating half of the contaminated soil to be ground (samples M) in order to test whether the grinding expedited the remediation, the other half was left unground (samples P). Both soils were mixed with wastewater treatment sludge to increase their bacterial diversity and facilitate the degradation of CPs, and the resultant mixtures were placed in 2 bioreactors, M and P, operated for 16 months under anaerobic conditions to favor dehalogenation and for an additional 16 months under aerobic conditions to achieve complete mineralization. Samples were taken every 4 months for toxicity and microbial analyses. The results showed a 64% removal of total CPs (ΣCPs) in reactor P after just 18 months of remediation, whereas similar depletion in reactor M occurred after ∼25 months, indicating that the grinding decelerated the remediation. By the end of the experiment, both reactors achieved 93.5-95% removal. The toxicity tests showed a decrease in toxicity as the remediation progressed. The succession of bacterial communities over time was significantly associated with pH, anaerobic/aerobic phase and the concentration of the majority of CP congeners. Our data indicate that the supplementation of contaminated soil with sludge and further incubation in pilot-scale bioreactors under consecutive anaerobic-aerobic conditions proved to be effective at the remediation of CP-contaminated soil.

The reproduction of Enchytraeus sp.--technical improvement for the counting of juveniles.

Soil-dwelling annelids of the genus Enchytraeus are used in ecotoxicology for testing of chemicals mixed in artificial soil or for testing of wastes and soils of unknown quality. ISO 16387 describes a method for determining the effects of substances or contaminated soils on survival and reproduction of Enchytraeus albidus or of the smaller species Enchytraeus buchholzi or Enchy-traeus crypticus. After the total test duration of 6 (or 4) weeks, the juveniles hatched in the meantime are counted. There are several possible extraction techniques, which are always followed by counting the juveniles by hand, but none of them seems easy to handle. We proposed a new modification of the worm extraction method using flotation of fixed and stained juveniles followed by taking a photograph. The digital image of the juveniles is evaluated by computer processing. It makes the counting of juveniles much easier and less labor intensive.

Ecotoxicity monitoring of hydrocarbon-contaminated soil during bioremediation: a case study.

The ecotoxicity of hydrocarbon-contaminated soil originating from a brownfield site was evaluated during a 17-month biodegradation pilot test. The initial concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) in the soil was 6380 microg/g dry weight. An amount of 200 kg soil was inoculated with 1.5 L of the bacterial preparation GEM-100 containing Pseudomonas sp. and Acinetobacter sp. strains (5.3 x 10(10) CFU.mL(-1)) adapted to diesel fuel. The concentration of TPHs in the soil decreased by 65.5% after bioremediation. Different organisms such as the bacterium Vibrio fischeri, terrestrial plants Sinapis alba, Lactuca sativa, and Hordeum vulgare, the water plant Lemna minor, the earthworm Eisenia fetida, and the crustacean Heterocypris incongruens were used for ecotoxicity evaluation. The highest toxicity was detected in the first period of bioremediation. However, certain toxic effects were detectable during the whole bioremediation process. The contact tests with plants, earthworms, and crustaceans were the most sensitive of all of the bioassays. Therefore, the contact tests performed directly on soil samples were shown to be a better tool for ecotoxicity evaluation of hydrocarbon-contaminated soil than the tests performed on soil elutriates. The ecotoxicity measured by the responses of the tests did not always correlate with the decrease in TPH concentrations in the soil during bioremediation.