Elsevier

Pedosphere

Volume 17, Issue 4, August 2007, Pages 409-418
Pedosphere

Surfactant-Enhanced Phytoremediation of Soils Contaminated with Hydrophobic Organic Contaminants: Potential and Assessment*

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1002-0160(07)60050-2Get rights and content

Abstract

Phytoremediation is becoming a cost-effective technology for the in-situ clean up of sites polluted with hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs). The major factors limiting phytoremediation are the mass transfer, rate of plant uptake, and microbial biodegradation of HOCs. This article discusses the potential of surfactants to enhance desorption, plant uptake, and biodegradation of HOCs in the contaminated sites. Positive effects of surfactants on phytoremediation have been recently observed in greenhouse studies. The presence of some nonionic surfactants including polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate (Tween 80) and polyoxyethylene (23) dodecanol (Brij35) at relatively low concentrations resulted in significant positive effects on phytoremediation for pyrene-contaminated soil. However, the anionic surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS) and the cationic surfactant (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, CTMAB) were not useful because of their phytotoxicity or low efficiency for surfactant-enhanced phytoremediation (SEPR). The mechanisms of SEPR for HOC-contaminated sites were evaluated by considering experimental observations. In view of concerns about the cost effectiveness and toxicity of surfactants to plants, more research is needed to enhance the use of SEPR technology.

References (57)

  • D. Garon et al.

    Influence of surfactants on solubilization and fungal degradation of fluorine

    Chemosphere

    (2002)
  • S.W. Karickhoff et al.

    Sorption of hydrophobic pollutants on natural sediments

    Water Res

    (1979)
  • I.S. Kim et al.

    Enhanced biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using nonionc surfactants in soil slurry

    Appl. Geochem

    (2001)
  • D.H. Lee et al.

    Effect of soil texture on surfactant-based remediation of hydrophobic organic-contaminated soil

    Environ. Inter

    (2002)
  • Y. Li et al.

    Effects of a nonionic surfactant (Tween 80) on the mineralization, metabolism and uptake of phenanthrene in wheat-solution-lava microcosm

    Chemosphere

    (2001)
  • H.H. Liste et al.

    Plant-promoted pyrene degradation in soils

    Chemosphere

    (2000)
  • J.E. McCray et al.

    Biosurfactant enhanced solubilization of NAPL mixtures

    J. Contam. Hydrol

    (2001)
  • S. Mukherjee et al.

    Towards commercial production of microbial surfactants

    Trends in Biotechnol

    (2006)
  • C.N. Mulligan

    Environmental applications for biosurfactants

    Environ. Pollut

    (2005)
  • C.N. Mulligan et al.

    Surfactant-enhanced remediation of contaminated soil: A review

    Eng. Geol

    (2001)
  • W.H. Noordman et al.

    Facilitated transport of a PAH mixture by a rhamnolipid biosurfactant in porous silica matrices

    J. Contam. Hydrol

    (2000)
  • K.S.M. Rahman et al.

    Enhanced biore-mediation of n-alkane in petroleum sludge using bacterial consortium amended with rhamnolipid and micronutrients

    Biores. Technol

    (2003)
  • M. Sandbacka et al.

    The acute toxicity of surfactants on fish cells, Daphnia magna and fish—a comparative study

    Toxicology in Vitro

    (2000)
  • S.K. Santharam et al.

    Modeling the role of surfactant and biodegradation in the remediation of aquifers with non-aqueous phase contaminants

    J. Hazard. Mater

    (1997)
  • C. Schippers et al.

    Microbial degradation of phenanthrene by addition of a sophorolipid mixture

    J. Biotechnol

    (2000)
  • S.C. Wilson et al.

    Bioremediation of soil contaminated with polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs): A review

    Environ. Pollut

    (1993)
  • B.W. Zhao et al.

    A novel solubilization of phenanthrene using Winsor I microemulsion-based sodium castor oil sulfonate

    J. Hazard. Mater

    (2005)
  • L. Bernardezand et al.

    Selective solubilization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from multicomponent nonaqueous-phase liquids into nonionic surfactant micelles

    Environ. Sci. Technol.

    (2004)
  • Cited by (62)

    • Formation of fatty acid methyl ester based microemulsion and removal mechanism of PAHs from contaminated soils

      2021, Journal of Hazardous Materials
      Citation Excerpt :

      The conjugate ability reduced and the peak moved to the direction of high wave numbers. The terminal hydroxyl of TX-100 and Tween 80 was hydrogen bonded with the oxygen atoms of oxyethylene units or terminal hydroxyl groups of TX-100 and Tween 80 (Gao et al., 2007). Likewise, the peak at 3400 cm-1 (T 1) shifted to 3319.9 cm-1 (T 20), and the peak at 3344.53 cm-1 (T 25) shifted to 3334.48 cm-1 (T 28) showing a gradual decrease of the wave number (red shift).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    *

    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 20507009), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET) of the Ministry of Education of China, the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province for Outstanding Young Scientist (No. BK2006518), and the International Foundation for Science (No. C/3958-1).

    View full text