title: Ex situ treatment of hydrocarbon-contaminated soil using biosurfactants from Lactobacillus pentosus.
abstract: The utilization of biosurfactants for the bioremediation of contaminated soil is not yet well established, because of the high production cost of biosurfactants. Consequently, it is interesting to look for new biosurfactants that can be produced at a large scale, and it can be employed for the bioremediation of contaminated sites. In this work, biosurfactants from Lactobacillus pentosus growing in hemicellulosic sugars solutions, with a similar composition of sugars found in trimming vine shoot hydrolysates, were employed in the bioremediation of soil contaminated with octane. It was observed that the presence of biosurfactant from L. pentosus accelerated the biodegradation of octane in soil. After 15 days of treatment, biosurfactants from L. pentosus reduced the concentration of octane in the soil to 58.6 and 62.8%, for soil charged with 700 and 70,000 mg/kg of hydrocarbon, respectively, whereas after 30 days of treatment, 76% of octane in soil was biodegraded in both cases. In the absence of biosurfactant and after 15 days of incubation, only 1.2 and 24% of octane was biodegraded in soil charged with 700 and 70,000 mg/kg of octane, respectively. Thus, the use of biosurfactants from L. pentosus, as part of a well-designed bioremediation process, can provide mechanisms to mobilize the target contaminants from the soil surface to make them more available to the microbial population.
authors.affiliation: Chemical Engineering Department, University of Vigo, ETS Ingenieros Industriales, Campus As Lagoas, Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Pontevedra, Spain. amoldes@uvigo.es
authors.forename: Ana Belén
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Moldes
authors.forename: Remigio
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Paradelo
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rubinos
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Devesa-Rey
authors.forename: José Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Cruz
authors.forename: María Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Barral
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D003666:Decontamination / Q000379:methods; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000378:metabolism*; D009795:Octanes / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000191:economics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D009795:Octanes; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; C026728:octane