The differential removal of aged polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from soil during bioremediation

Composting for the removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from soil was assessed as a treatment option at a former tar contaminated site, alongside conventional land treatment. The key objective of the study was to illustrate differences in the extent of removal of the different PAH compounds undergoing biological treatment. Soil composting led to more extensive PAH removal than did 2 variations on the land treatment process. Soil composting was substantially more effective in removing benzo(a)anthracene, chrysene, benzo(b+k)fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene, dibenz(ah)anthracene, indenopyrene and benz (gih)perylene, than the land treatment processes. The extents of removal of these higher molecular weight PAH were at least 50% over the 7 month treatment period where composting was used, whereas degradation did not exceed 5% for each of these PAH compounds in the land treatments over the same period. Implications from the study for the practical and effective composting of PAH compounds in soil, are (1) moisture in the soil-compost mix should be kept constant, (2) fresh organic matter should be used and (3) efforts need to be made to ensure soil is properly homogenized, both prior to and during soil mixing.