A novel technology of solarization and phytoremediation enhanced with biosurfactant for the sustainable treatment of PAH-contaminated soil.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Futughe, Anthony Esimajemite Jones, Huw Purchase, Diane
Abstract	Hydrocarbon-contaminated land has been a significant issue throughout Nigeria’s Niger Delta since the discovery of crude oil in 1956. This paper proposes a novel and sustainable technique involving soil solarization, phytoremediation and biosurfactant to treat polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contamination. The treatment effect on PAH reduction, plant growth, rhizosphere microorganisms and their enzymatic activities was evaluated. Twenty-eight days of solarization was carried out before the introduction of Chromolaena odorata seedlings for an 84-day phytoremediation period using a 4 × 4 (vegetated) and 2 × 4 (non-vegetated) cell microcosms to simulate the Niger Delta’s subtropical conditions. Soil solarization resulted in significant PAH reduction (p ≤ 0.01) of phenanthrene, fluoranthene and benzo(a)pyrene with means reduction of 60.0%, 38.7% and 36.1% compared to their non-solarized counterparts with 18.0%, 18.0% and 18.8% at 95% CI (32.7, 51.3), (15.4, 26.1) and (8.0, 26.6), respectively. In post-solarization, all solarized and vegetated treatment groups significantly reduced (p ≤ 0.01) PAHs compared to their respective counterparts, while biosurfactant contribution in this combination was negligible (p ≥ 0.05). The growth parameters of C. odorata, total soil/rhizosphere heterotrophic microorganisms and their enzymatic activities of dehydrogenase and urease increased in all solarized treatments indicating essential biochemical processes. The novel and successful integration of soil solarization and phytoremediation using indigenous C. odorata as a combined technique to treat even the most recalcitrant form of hydrocarbons (PAHs) brings up new opportunities for a sustainable method of cleaning up contaminated land in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta.Graphical AbstractSupplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10653-022-01460-0.
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ISSN	02694042
Journal	Environmental Geochemistry and Health [Environ Geochem Health]
Volume Number	45
DOI	10.1007/s10653-022-01460-0
PubMed Central reference number	PMC10232648
Issue Number	6
PubMed reference number	36593376
e-ISSN	15732983
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2023-01-03
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. © The Author(s) 2023
Subject Keyword	Soil solarization Phytoremediation Contaminated soil Biosurfactant Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) Niger delta
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Environmental Chemistry Medicine Geochemistry and Petrology Environmental Engineering Water Science and Technology Environmental Science