| The proper design and management of hydrocarbon-contaminated soil biological treatment systems requires an understanding of the rates at which the hydrocarbon contamination is degraded. The effect of temperature on the rate and extent of crude oil biodegradation was investigated in a soil slurry over 121 days. Biodegradation of Total Extractable Hydrocarbons (TEH) at 5°C and 20°C was measured gravimetrically using Soxhlet extraction with dichloromethane, microbial community numbers were estimated using a 96-well plate most-probable-number technique, and carbon fractions were measured using GC-FID. It was found that the rate of treatment TEH degradation at 5°C from 0--121 days was the same as the rate of treatment TEH dew at 20°C from approximately 42--121 days. In addition, a two-stage first order kinetics model can approximate the rate of degradation of TEH at 20°C, and a single-stage first-order kinetics model can approximate the rate of degradation of TEH at 5°C. |
