Evaluation of Biodegradation of BTEX in the Subsurface of a Petrochemical Site near the Yangtze River, China

Xuexia Chen, Shuai Zhang, Lijin Yi, Zhengwei Liu, Xiangyu Ye, Bo Yu, Shuai Shi and Xiaoxia Lu ()
Additional contact information
Xuexia Chen: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Shuai Zhang: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Lijin Yi: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Zhengwei Liu: State Key Laboratory of Safety and Control for Chemicals, SINOPEC Research Institute of Safety Engineering Co., Ltd., Qingdao 266100, China
Xiangyu Ye: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Bo Yu: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Shuai Shi: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Xiaoxia Lu: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 24, 1-12

Abstract: The contamination of soil and groundwater with BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylenes) is a common issue at petrochemical sites, posing a threat to the ecosystems and human health. The goal of this study was to evaluate the biodegradation of BTEX in the subsurface of a petrochemical site near the Yangtze River, thus providing scientific basis for bioremediation of the contaminated site. Both molecular analysis of field samples and microcosm study in the laboratory were performed for the evaluation. Soil and groundwater samples were collected from the site. Microcosms were constructed with inoculum from the soil and incubated anaerobically in the presence of nitrate, ferric oxide, manganese oxide, sulfate, and sodium bicarbonate, respectively. The initial concentration of each component of BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, o-xylene) was 4–5 mg/L. Actinobacteria was dominant in the highly contaminated soil, while Proteobacteria was dominant in the slightly contaminated soil and the groundwater. The relative abundances of Firmicutes, Spirochaetes, and Caldiserica were higher in the highly contaminated soil and groundwater samples compared to those in the corresponding slightly contaminated samples. The relative abundances of predicted functions, such as carbohydrate transport and metabolism, nucleotide transport and metabolism, coenzyme transport and metabolism, amino acid transport and metabolism, etc., in the highly contaminated soil and groundwater samples were higher than those in the corresponding slightly contaminated samples. In microcosms, biodegradations of BTEX occurred, and the first-order rate constants in the presence of various electron acceptors had the following order: sulfate (0.08–0.10/d) > sodium bicarbonate (0.07–0.09/d) > ferric oxide (0.04–0.06/d) > nitrate (0.03–0.05/d) > manganese oxide (0.01–0.04/d).

Keywords: BTEX; biodegradation; soil; groundwater; microcosm; electron acceptor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16449/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16449/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:24:p:16449-:d:996992

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().