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An Experimental Study of the Diesel Biodegradation Effects on Soil Biogeophysical Parameters

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the dynamic conditions of soil/organic mixtures in order to contribute to the study of remediation processes at hydrocarbon spill sites. Induced polarization (IP) and physical, chemical, and microbiological parameters for uncontaminated and artificially contaminated soil samples with diesel oil were evaluated under controlled conditions (constant temperature and soil moisture) during a period of 12 months. In contaminated samples, the resistivity and IP parameters (chargeability and polarizability) decreased during 8 months and remained relatively stable between 8 and 12 months. The observed reduction on resistivity and IP parameters was related to the increase on the granular aggregation of the soil and a decrease on total porosity, caused by diesel-degrading microorganisms. The behavior of the IP parameters observed after 8 months can be explained by a reduction in the microbial activity and, consequently, a decrease of the degradation rate of diesel. In the studied loamy soil with high content of organic matter (96.16 g/kg), the results demonstrate that IP time domain measurements can be used in the evaluation of the evolution of the hydrocarbon degradation even when the concentration is not very high.

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Acknowledgements

This work was developed under the POCI/ECM/58768/2004 project and funded by FCT, POCI 2010 Program, and FEDER (European Communitarian Funds). The authors wish to thank to Galp Energy (Portugal) for the diesel oil used in contamination of the samples and Prof. A. Maurício for his comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Engenharia de Minas, Centro de Recursos Naturais e Ambiente, Instituto Superior Técnico, Technical University of Lisbon (TULisbon), Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001, Lisboa, Portugal

    E. Martinho

  2. Departamento de Ciências do Ambiente, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Technical University of Lisbon (TULisbon), Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017, Lisboa, Portugal

    M. M. Abreu

  3. Laboratório de Microbiologia, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Technical University of Lisbon (TULisbon), Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017, Lisboa, Portugal

    M. E. Pampulha & A. Oliveira

  4. Departamento de Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores, Instituto Superior Técnico, Technical University of Lisbon (TULisbon), Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001, Lisboa, Portugal

    F. Alegria

  5. Departamento de Geociências, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    F. Almeida

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  1. E. Martinho
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Correspondence to E. Martinho.

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Martinho, E., Abreu, M.M., Pampulha, M.E. et al. An Experimental Study of the Diesel Biodegradation Effects on Soil Biogeophysical Parameters. Water Air Soil Pollut 206, 139–154 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-009-0092-y

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