SOLID-PHASE TREATMENT OF A PENTACHLOROPHENOL-CONTAMINATED SOIL USING LIGNIN-DEGRADING FUNGI

The abilities of three lignin-degrading fungi, Phanerochaete chrysospo rium, Phanerochaete sordida, and Trametes hirsuta, to deplete pentachl orophenol (PCP) from soil contaminated with PCP and creosote were eval uated. A total of seven fungal and three control treatments were exami ned for their effect on the soil PCP concentration over eight weeks in two complementary field treatability studies at the Brookhaven Wood P reserving Facility in Brookhaven, MS. The fungi were applied to the so il as pure or mixed cultures at several different inoculum loading lev els (inoculum:soil, w/w, dry). Inoculation of soil that contained 672 mug g-1 PCP and 4017 mug g-1 total measured polynuclear aromatic compo nents of creosote with P. sordida at 10% resulted in the greatest decr ease in PCP concentration (89%). PCP decreases by P. chrysosporium (67 %-72%) or T. hirsuta (55%) at the same inoculum loading level were les s extensive. The results of this study demonstrate that with further d evelopment, bioaugmentation using lignin-degrading fungi has the poten tial to be a viable treatment option for the remediation of PCP-contam inated soils.