Enhanced biodegradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) by microbial consortium encapsulated in alginate/gellan gum microbeads

Abstract

Fossil fuels such as petroleum and petroleum products are widely used as a major energy source for everyday life and industry around the world. Total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) released during the production, transportation and storage of fossil fuels, cause serious soil and groundwater contamination. Among the various techniques used for the treatment of TPH-contaminated soil and groundwater, bioremediation has been frequently applied for the clean-up of contaminated soil and groundwater using indigenous microorganisms. However, the high toxicity caused by TPH and lack of nutrient in groundwater are the main obstacle for the application of bioremediation. Therefore, for the facilitated degradation of TPH in the contaminated soil and groundwater, it is necessary to develop a strategy to keep the enough microbial population. Therefore, as the mean of keeping microbial population, this thesis evaluated the potential application of microbeads to promote the biodegradation of TPH by immobilizing nutrients and microorganism in microbeads. To this end, microorganisms are encapsulated in alginate/gellan gum microbeads (AGMs) with the suitable mechanical strength and sizes. The microbial consortium-encapsulated AGMs were then tested for TPH biodegradation through lab-scale batch and continuous column experiments.