Bioremediation of Polluted Soil Agricultural Sites by Crude Oil HydrocarbonsUsing Tomato Pomace

Introduction: The bio-adsorption potentials of tomato pomace for bioremediation of crude petroleum-oil polluted soil in the agricultural sites in the south of Tehran, Shahre-Ray were investigated. The use of bio-adsorbents for removal of toxic heavy metals and crude oil from food/ agricultural waste offers a relatively low-cost method with potential for oil /metal recovery. Materials and Method : Temperature, pH, moisture, total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH), and changes in heavy metals Lead and Cadmium during 40 days were studied due to 1% and 3% (W/W) of tomato pomace from recognized Tomato Pastes manufacturers in Iran, were added to crude oil polluted soil samples. Gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) was used to compare hydrocarbon present in the crude oil polluted soil and in pure fuel, composition of crude oil polluted soil was analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and also ICP-Mass was used for determination of Lead and Cadmium Simultaneously. Results: The results revealed that, at the end of 40 day experiments, the concentration of TPH decreased significantly ( p < 0.05) in crude oil polluted soil containing tomato waste with a percentage of 20.3 ± 1.1 % followed by crude oil polluted soil in comparison of untreated control soil samples and also significantly reduction in Lead / Cadmium contents : 38.3% - 40.8 % respectively. Conclusion: The results from current detoxification of heavy metals and crude oil demonstrated that tomato pomace could be used to detoxification of heavy metals and also hydrocarbons in contaminated sites near Oil refinery in Shahre-Ray in the south of Tehran during bioremediation of crude petroleum-oil polluted agricultural soils which many edible vegetables and crops are already cultivated on them.

کلیدواژه ها:

biodegradation ، detoxification ، tomato waste ، heavy metals ، crude oil polluted soil