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Effects of biochar properties on the bioremediation of the petroleum-contaminated soil from a shale-gas field

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Abstract

The characteristics of biochar carriers prepared from different biomass (corncob, straw, and sawdust) were investigated, and the bioremediation performance of the biochar through microbial immobilization was analyzed. Corncob biochar had the highest specific surface area (157.11–312.30 m2 g−1) among the different biomass, and the specific surface area and total pore volume reached the maximum at 500 °C. The pore size was primarily micropore, which aided to the fixation of microorganisms and the adsorption of petroleum pollutants. With increased pyrolysis temperature, the polar functional groups in biochar decreased, and the aromatic functional groups gradually increased, thereby benefiting the adsorption of hydrophobic organic compounds. Corncob biochar had the highest zeta potential, i.e., from − 30.95 to − 6.43 mV, conducive to the electrostatic adsorption between carrier and microorganism. The highest oil-removal and microbial-immobilization rates of biochar CC500 (with corncob pyrolyzed at 500 °C) were about 70.7% and 71.2%, respectively. A strong recovery of microbial growth activity was also observed; recovery was 83.38% compared with free bacteria, and the fixed microorganisms reached logarithmic-growth period at 8–18 h.

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Acknowledgments

The research was financially supported by Open Fund of State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Collaborative Control and Remediation of Soil and Water Pollution (GHBK-003) and Technology Innovation R&D Project of Chengdu (2019-YF05-00066-SN). The authors thank Sangon Biotech Co., Ltd. for technical assistance in carrying out the analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, 610500, China

    Hong-Yang Ren, Zi-Jing Wei, Yan Wang, Yuan-Peng Deng, Ming-Yu Li & Bing Wang

  2. Petroleum China Key Laboratory of HSE, Research Laboratory of Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, 610500, China

    Hong-Yang Ren & Bing Wang

  3. State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Collaborative Control and Remediation of Soil and Water Pollution, Chengdu, 610059, China

    Hong-Yang Ren

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  1. Hong-Yang Ren
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  2. Zi-Jing Wei
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  5. Ming-Yu Li
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Correspondence to Hong-Yang Ren.

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Ren, HY., Wei, ZJ., Wang, Y. et al. Effects of biochar properties on the bioremediation of the petroleum-contaminated soil from a shale-gas field. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 36427–36438 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09715-y

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