Phytoremediation of Oil Contaminated Soils by Bermudagrass Varieties

The petroleum refinery sludge is important source of environmental pollution. Burning andburying of this sludge may cause adverse effects on environment and human health. Thusother mechanisms for decreasing the toxic effects of these hydrocarbon substances must be suggested. So that application of new technology such as phytoremediation in soils can be suggested for degradation and remediation of petroleum hydrocarbons. In this study, Isfahan refinery complex sludge was dewatered and air dried then mixed by 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40% w/w ratio with soil. The different mixtures of soils and sludge land farmed each 3 days for 21 days and irrigated daily to the field capacity. In the phytoremediation experiment ten varities of bermudagrass were planted in 3 kilogram pots containing contaminated soils. Finally, yield and the decrease percent of total petroleum hydrocarbons of ten varities of bermudagrass were determined. Results showed that with increase percent of contamination foliage dryweight reduced. Also, with increase percent of contamination from 10 to 20 percent root dry weight increased, but reduced in higher percent of contaminations. Degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil with 320018-4 was greater than the others.