Pennisetum purpureum Improved Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Removal in Weathered-Petroleum Contaminated Soil

Petroleum hydrocarbons are among the major driving forces of advancement in the last Century. Some of the hydrocarbons especially polycyclic aromatics are however of health and environmental significance, due to their recalcitrance and persistence leading to adverse effects on health and ecosystem stability. A number of treatment technologies have been used to cleanup hydrocarbon contaminants and the use of phytoremediation technology have recently been described as promising. In this study, phytoremediation of weathered crude oil contaminated soil was carried out in a microcosm using Pennisetumpurpureum for 60 days. Pristine soil samples were collected and mixed with weathered petroleum contaminated soil to achieve 5%, 25%, 35% and 50% w/w contamination levels. Bacterial species in the rhizosphere were isolated and identified and residual oil was extracted and analyzed using GC-MS. Results showed that there was high bacterial population in rhizosphere (5.0×105 cfu/g to 6.4×105 cfu/g) than non-rhizosphere soil (2.4 ×105 cfu/g to 4.0×105 cfu/g); and Bacillus spp. (64.71%) were observed to be predominant in the rhizosphere followed by Micrococcus spp. (17.65%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (5.88%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (5.88%) and Flavobacterium sp. (5.88%). Hydrocarbon concentration in the rhizosphere was reduced by 82.5%, 60.5%, 58.0% and 48.8% respectively. Complex polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds detected in the control using GC-MS were significantly reduced or completely degraded. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons such as anthracene, naphthalene, fluorene, benzo (a) anthracene, pyrene and chrysene were significantly reduced at a rate ranging between 13.33% and 97.54%. Based on the rate of PAHs reduction observed in this study, it was evident that P. purpureumsupports cleanup of persistent hydrocarbon contaminants in soil environment. The use of this plant in large scale petroleum hydrocarbon cleanup under field conditions should be investigated.