TREATMENT OF HYDROCARBON CONTAMINATED SOIL USING A ROTATING DRUM BIOREACTOR

A simple, low cost laboratory scale rotating drum bioreactor was desig ned and constructed. This was used to investigate the biodegradation o f an oil related hydrocarbon (tetradecene) in soil slurries, including the effect of adding pre-inoculated polyurethane foam cubes to the bi oreactor. The inclusion of an inoculum of oil-degrading bacteria enhan ced the rate of removal of tetradecene from 5 to only 2 days of operat ion. The inclusion of pre-inoculated foam into the system appeared not to increase the rate of tetradecene removal over that of the inoculum alone. It was concluded that the small scale bioreactor was very suit able for conducting laboratory investigations into the removal of oil contamination from polluted soil. The use of foam to improve the rate of oil removal cannot be rejected on the basis of these experiments. I t may be that the inclusion of foam in a continuous culture system cou ld improve biomass retention and increase the treatment rate of contam inated soil in a bioreactor.