Bioremediation of petroleum-contaminated saline soil using straw and starch wastewater as biostimulation agents

To evaluate the efficacy of straw and starch wastewater as biostimulation agents for the remediation of petroleum-contaminated saline soil, five remediation treatments with and without straw and starch wastewater were tested in laboratory. According to the total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) measurement and Sole carbon source utilization (BIOLOG) analysis, a large application of straw and starch wastewater could result in a satisfactory TPH biodegradation rate of up to 31.91% and an overall increase in microorganism activity. In addition, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of 16s rDNA genes indicated that the straw caused significant changes in community composition while the starch wastewater triggered a higher petroleum biodegradation rate by offering nutrients for biodegradation. Thus, in this study, an inexpensive bioremediation method was developed for petroleum-contaminated saline soil.