ASSESSMENT OF HYDROCARBON LOSS IN BIOSTIMULATED AND BIOAUGMENTED CRUDE OIL CONTAMINATED ULTISOL OF SOURTHERN NIGERIA

Etukudoh, Ndarake Emmanuel., ²Ikpe FN., ³Osakwe J.A and ⁴Wenedo S.A

Department of Crop/Soil Science

Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

A pot experiment was conducted at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Southern Nigeria to assessed the effectiveness of poultry manure, urea and selected hydrocarbon degrading bacteria in the remediation of a crude oil contaminated Ultisol. Each pot weighing 3kg, was contaminated to  2, 5 and 10%  with Bonny light crude oil of 0.835 specific gravity  with no contamination as a control. Seven (7) days after, each level was amended with urea and poultry manure (PM), thereafter the pots were seeded with Acinetobacter clavatus, Bacillius subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Unamended and unseeded soils were also included as controls. Treatments were replicated three (3) times, completely randomized and arranged in a green house. Results showed that crude oil lost correlated negatively correlated with total seeded bacterial counts. In Pseudomonas aeruginosa inoculated soil, more percent  crude oil  lost  were recorded except that at 2 and 5% pollution levels in the PM amended soil inoculated with Bacillus subtilis more crude oil (99.95 and 66.08%) was loss. This study suggests that at 2% contamination, provision of adequate PM for indigenous microbes is sufficient to remedy the soil while at 5 and 10% pollution levels, inoculation with Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa biostimulated respectively with urea are recommended as suitable biodegrading agents because greater percent loss in the crude oil were recorded in this options.

Keywords: Bioaugmention , Biostimulation, Amendment, Seeded, Hydrocarbonoclatic, Biodegradation.