Bioaugmentation and biostimulation methods for the decontamination of soils contaminated with petroleum compounds: a systematic review

The purpose of this study is to identify and comprehensively evaluate international studies related to bioaugmentation and biostimulation methods for the remediation of soils contaminated with petroleum compounds.

This systematic review study was conducted in April 2022. The present systematic review study was conducted to address two main questions: 1) Is biostimulation an effective process in the bioremediation of soils contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons; and 2) Is bioaugmentation an effective process for bioremediation of soils contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons? Global electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus) were used to identify relevant studies. After a comprehensive review of studies, 123 studies consistent with the purpose were selected.

The results showed that biostimulation methods can have profound changes in bacterial, Archaebacteria, and soil fungal communities in terms of activity, frequency, and composition. In general, the nutrients and electron receptors added in the biostimulation process improve soil microbial activity, increasing the overall abundance of bacteria, and fungi and promoting selective replication of bacterial, archival, and fungal polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PHC) destroyers. The use of bioaugmentation technology in an environment contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons has a positive effect on the refining process. However, it is necessary to precisely select the appropriate microbial strains. The most important factor in the removal of hydrocarbons in the soil is the selection of oil-decomposing microorganisms that can survive in high concentrations of pollutants.

Therefore, the result indicated that biostimulation and bioaugmentation can efficiently improve the THP removal efficiency in contaminated soil by considering the environmental conditions.