Economic Evaluation of Bioremediation of Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Urban Soils in Chile

Roberto Orellana (), Andrés Cumsille, Paula Piña-Gangas, Claudia Rojas, Alejandra Arancibia, Salvador Donghi, Cristian Stuardo, Patricio Cabrera, Gabriela Arancibia, Franco Cárdenas, Felipe Salazar, Myriam González, Patricio Santis, Josefina Abarca-Hurtado, María Mejías and Michael Seeger ()
Additional contact information
Roberto Orellana: Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química & Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay-Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Avenida España 1680, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Andrés Cumsille: Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química & Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay-Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Avenida España 1680, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Paula Piña-Gangas: Escuela de Negocios Internacionales, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso 2572048, Chile
Claudia Rojas: Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química & Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay-Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Avenida España 1680, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Alejandra Arancibia: Laboratorio de Biología Celular y Ecofisiología Microbiana, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Playa Ancha, Leopoldo Carvallo 270, Valparaíso 2360001, Chile
Salvador Donghi: Instituto de Geografía, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso 2350026, Chile
Cristian Stuardo: Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química & Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay-Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Avenida España 1680, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Patricio Cabrera: Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química & Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay-Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Avenida España 1680, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Gabriela Arancibia: Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química & Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay-Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Avenida España 1680, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Franco Cárdenas: Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química & Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay-Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Avenida España 1680, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Felipe Salazar: Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química & Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay-Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Avenida España 1680, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Myriam González: Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química & Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay-Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Avenida España 1680, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Patricio Santis: Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química & Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay-Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Avenida España 1680, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Josefina Abarca-Hurtado: Laboratorio de Biología Celular y Ecofisiología Microbiana, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Playa Ancha, Leopoldo Carvallo 270, Valparaíso 2360001, Chile
María Mejías: Laboratorio de Biología Celular y Ecofisiología Microbiana, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Playa Ancha, Leopoldo Carvallo 270, Valparaíso 2360001, Chile
Michael Seeger: Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química & Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay-Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Avenida España 1680, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-16

Abstract: Technical advances have converted bioremediation into a large-scale ecosystem service suitable for the treatment of polluted soils worldwide; however, its application in Chile is scarce. The main hurdles that must be addressed include the capacities of such approaches for the treatment of polluted soils, the lack of knowledge about key factors affecting bioremediation costs and the lack of a legal framework to regulate this activity. In this study, the economic performance of the bioremediation of chronically hydrocarbon-polluted urban soils based on bioaugmentation, biostimulation or the combination of both approaches projected to an industrial scale was evaluated. The cost of bioremediation ranged between USD 50.7 and USD 310.4 per m 3 of contaminated soil. In addition, the items and activities that had the most significant impacts on the final bioremediation cost, such as compost for biostimulation and bacterial growth media for bioaugmentation-based approaches, were identified. The projected costs were compared against an extensive database of 130 soil bioremediation projects. The bioremediation treatment costs fell within the top 60% of the more expensive projects, highlighting the high effort involved in bioremediation of chronically contaminated soils. This framework can facilitate the decision making of entrepreneurs, consultants, researchers and governmental authorities when launching initiatives to develop a local bioremediation industry capable of cleaning up a high number of polluted sites in Chile.

Keywords: microbial bioremediation; cost of bioremediation; bioremediation industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (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/2071-1050/14/19/11854/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/11854/ (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:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:19:p:11854-:d:920277

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

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