Abstract

Surfactant mediated recovery of anthracene from contaminated soil

Author(s): M.Lakshmi Sree, V.Sree Lekha, M.Thenmozhi

The present study was to evaluate the recovery of anthracene, a polyaromatic hydrocarbon from contaminated soil using chemical surfactant and rhamnolipid biosurfactant produced by Pseudomonas fluorescens. Comparative study of biosurfactants to chemical surfactant was carried out. The observation indicates that biosurfactants produced by the bacterial strainwas found to bemore effective than chemical surfactants. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contamination of the environment represents a serious threat to the health of humans and ecosystems. Bioremediation has shown promise as a potentially effective and low-cost treatment option, but concerns about the slow process rate and bioavailability limitations have hamperedmore widespread use of this technology. An option to enhance the bioavailability of PAHs is to add surfactants directly to soil in situ or ex situ in bioreactors. Surfactants increase the apparent solubility and desorption rate of the PAH to the aqueous phase.