V. Sarvi Moghanloo , M. Chorom, H. Motamedi , B. Alizadeh, Sh. Ostan,
Volume 15, Issue 56 (7-2011)
Abstract
Soil enzymes are the catalysts for important metabolic process functions including the decomposition of organic inputs and the detoxification of xenobiotics. The aim of this research was to determine the pattern of variation in the activities of dehydrogenase, urease, lipase and phosphatase enzymes, determining the number of hetrotrophic and degrading bacteria and measuring the soil respiration and yield plants during the bioremediation of oil contaminated soils. To this aim, the soil deliberately contaminated with crude oil at a 1 and 2 wt% rate and in four treatments including: plant multiflorum (T1), plant multiflorum with mycorrhiza inoculation (T2), plant multiflorum with oil degrading bacteria inoculation (T3), plant multiflorum with mycorrhiza and oil degrading bacteria inoculation (T4) was employed for bioremediation of oil contaminated soil. The above parameters were determined in five stages during bioremediation and ultimately for the yield of plants at the end of this period .The results showed that the activity of urease and hydrogenase anzymes were increased or decreased parallel to contaminant increase and decrease. In contrast, the activity of lipase anzyme was decreased with contaminant increase and increased with contaminant decrease. Therfore, it can be a good choice for monitoring of bioremediation of contaminated soils. The results showed that the number of degrading and hetrotrophic microorganisms were increased by increasing the amount of contamination and the number of degrading and heterotrophic bacteria were decreased parallel to contaminant decreasing especially in those samples treated with mycorrhiza inoculation. The plant yield and amount of degradation of oil compounds were highest in mycorrhiza plus degrading bacteria treatment.
A.r. Eftekhari, M. Mirmohammad Sadeghi, A. Jalalian,
Volume 27, Issue 2 (9-2023)
Abstract
The use of biotechnology-based methods in the field of geotechnical engineering has led to the birth of new knowledge of biogeotechnology and several studies have been conducted using this new knowledge in various geotechnical issues including reducing permeability and increasing shear strength, especially in sandy soils and the desired results have been obtained. Nevertheless, little research has been done using biogeotechnology in the field of improving the mechanical properties of clay soils, especially in reducing the swelling of expansive soils, which is considered one of the types of problematic soils. The main cause of swelling of expansive soils is the presence of montmorillonite clays in these types of soils. Using chemical additives to stabilize expansive soils such as lime and cement is a common practice. However, environmental concerns related to greenhouse gas production caused by the production of chemical substances and the destructive effects of these substances on the environment and soils have encouraged researchers to use other sustainable stabilization alternatives. Microbial Induced Carbonate Precipitation (MICP) is a technique that can be a promising solution to solve this problem. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of the MICP method on the swelling of expansive clay soils and its effect on the mechanical strength of this type of soil. One-dimensional swelling tests, uniaxial compressive strength tests, and Atterberg limits tests were performed on clay soil with a liquid limit of 53 using Sporosarcina pasteurii bacteria, calcium chloride, and urea as nutrients. Taguchi's method was used for the design of the experiments and the statistical analysis of the results. This method designs experiments through partial factorial and reduces their number without a significant effect on the results. Bacterial concentration, nutrient molarity ratio, treatment time, and soil moisture were selected as four factors with Four levels of variation. The results showed that the (MICP) method was effective in reducing the swelling potential of expansive soils and also caused a significant increase in the unconfined compressive strength of the soil and its undrained shear strength.