Reliability of solid phase microextraction in estimating bioavailability of pyrene in soil

• Published in: Journal of environmental biology Vol. 32; no. 3; pp. 319 - 323
• Main Authors: Liu, Hsiang-Chao, Hwu, Ching-Shyung, Hung, Jui-Min, Lai, Hung-Yu, Chang, Hung-Yueh, Lu, Chih-Jen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Triveni Enterprises 01.05.2011
• Subjects: Biodegradation, Environmental; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental science; Pyrenes - chemistry; Soil - chemistry; Soil Pollutants - chemistry; Solid Phase Microextraction; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0254-8704; 2394-0379

Solid phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with gas chromatography was employed to estimate bioavailability of pyrene in soils with different properties of textures, organic matter contents (SOM) and aging periods. Experimental results indicated that biodegradation rates increased from 0.10 (sandy loam) to 0.15 (silty loam) microg g-1 hr1. By contrast, biodegradation rate decreased from 0.10(1.3% SOM) to 0.04 (7.6% SOM) microg g-1hr1. The amounts of pyrene biodegraded decreased 27% when SOM was modified from 1.3 to 7.6%, indicating that distributions of pyrene in soils at biodegradation end points were affected by the SOM. Sequestration as measured by sonication extraction had evidently occurred in aged soil samples. SPME measurements slightly overestimated the amount of pyrene degraded by indigenous and seeded microorganisms, in soils with the different properties (correlation coefficient, R2= 0.74). The present study demonstrates that the SPME method can not replace biodegradation tests commonly used for predicting bioremediation efficacy.