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Variations in the environmental characteristics of groundwater slightly contaminated with petroleum: effects of enhanced bioremediation in northeast China

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Abstract

The objective of this paper was to investigate a petroleum-contaminated groundwater site in northeast China. Based on the monitoring and analysis of environmental characteristics of groundwater slightly contaminated with petroleum, microbes were added into the petroleum-contaminated groundwater via single-well and multiple-well models to enhance bioremediation. The effect of enhanced bioremediation was monitored and analyzed, and variations in the environmental characteristics of groundwater containing total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) were identified to provide a scientific basis for controlling and remediating petroleum-contaminated groundwater. Findings confirmed that this site was slightly contaminated and TPH levels exhibited a slight decreasing trend. After enhanced remediation, the microbial degradation effect was large, and the TPH concentration significantly reduced. In particular, near the wells treated by bioremediation, the amounts of electron acceptors, such as NO3 −, Fe3+, and SO4 2−, markedly decreased. The product of the microbial degradation process, HCO3 −, gradually increased in the treated wells. Activities of the enzyme catechol 1, 2-dioxygenase decreased, while those of catalase increased. Reductions in pH, from 7.4 to 6.1, were recorded, and the groundwater environment became further deoxidized.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41203050) and the Natural Science Foundation of Jilin Province of China (Grant No. 20130101019JC).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of Groundwater Resources and Environment, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People’s Republic of China

    Yuling Zhang, Hong Qian, Jiali Wang, Chaoqun Si, Zhiyu Chen & Jiangyan Dang

  2. College of Environment and Resources, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People’s Republic of China

    Yuling Zhang, Hong Qian, Jiali Wang, Chaoqun Si, Zhiyu Chen & Jiangyan Dang

  3. Institute of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People’s Republic of China

    Yuling Zhang, Hong Qian, Jiali Wang, Chaoqun Si, Zhiyu Chen & Jiangyan Dang

  4. Division of Environmental Technology, INET, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, People’s Republic of China

    Zhenyi Zhang

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  1. Yuling Zhang
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  2. Hong Qian
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  3. Jiali Wang
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  4. Chaoqun Si
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  5. Zhiyu Chen
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  6. Jiangyan Dang
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  7. Zhenyi Zhang
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Correspondence to Yuling Zhang.

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Zhang, Y., Qian, H., Wang, J. et al. Variations in the environmental characteristics of groundwater slightly contaminated with petroleum: effects of enhanced bioremediation in northeast China. Environ Earth Sci 76, 90 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-6412-4

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