Bioremediation of Petroleum contaminated soils collected all around China: The extensive application and the microbial mechanism

A commercial microbial agent (Devoroil) was applied to study the biodegradation efficiency of four petroleum contaminated soils/sediment collected all around China. After 40 days of biodegradation, the total petroleum hydrocarbons removal rates were 41.8%, 95.7%, 84.5% and 93.5%. The soil achieved the lowest biodegradation efficiency was chosen to conduct another bioremediation experiment to study the degradation dynamics of petroleum and the microbial mechanism. The results showed that biodegradation dynamics correspond to a negative index relation. The analysis of PCR-DGGE exhibited that Thioalkalivibrio sp., Nocardia sp. and Mycobacterium sp. were probably the dominant functional microbes in the contaminated environment.