Substrate Bioavailability on the Biodegradation of Recalcitrant Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Aqueous-Sediment Matrix: A Mini Review

• Published in: Polycyclic aromatic compounds Vol. 32; no. 1; pp. 75 - 92
• Main Authors: Owabor, C. N., Ogbeide, S. E., Susu, A. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia Taylor & Francis Group 01.01.2012; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Accumulation; Chemical contaminants; Cleaning; contaminants; Crude oil; degradation; Discharge; Economics; Environmental regulations; Industrial development; Land; mobility; Petroleum industry; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; reactivity; sediments matrix/soils; toxicity
• ISSN: 1040-6638; 1563-5333
• DOI: 10.1080/10406638.2011.638693

The increased quest for technology and industrialization by a dynamic society, where the fuel requirements of the energy sector and the chemical and petrochemical needs of the chemical and allied industries are satisfied, is greatly dependent on the petroleum industry in which the downstream sector is a key player. These needs range from the feedstock requirements of the chemical industries, polymeric industrial sector, solvent sector, cosmetics industries, etc. The downstream environment has over time been subjected to a barrage of sustained and unmitigated pollution of its air, land, and sea by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The frequency of discharge of petroleum and petroleum products into the environment, particularly land, and their build-up, compromises the quality of the environment. Generally, the discharge of these groups of compounds into the environment, whether accidental or intentional, has adverse ecological effect in oil-producing areas of the world. These effects, apart from the degradation of the ecosystem, also results in commodity loss, loss to the communities that depend on such lands for their livelihood, and economic loss due to spill clean-up cost. The development of effective clean-up technology to reduce the levels of these hydrocarbon contaminants in order to meet environmental regulation standards is thus a continuing subject of research.