MICROBIAL ECOLOGY APPROACH FOR REMEDIATION OF OIL-POLLUTED LAND

Great successes in practice of oil polluted soil remediation are not achieved yet, in spite of considerable intellectual efforts and financial expenditures. Existing technological methods of oil-polluted land restoration in world experience can be divided into two big groups: (1) Taking the polluted layer of soil and transportation of it to the specially equipped places, where corresponding processing with cleaning from pollution takes place; (2) restoration of oil-polluted soil directly in the place of pollution. Having analyzed the information about restoration of oil-polluted land, we came to conclusion that known technologies don't take into account the periodical destruction of each oil fractions in soil sufficiently and its biological properties and also there is not analogous estimating in choosing of application one or another way of remediation. On the basis carried out investigations we suggest approach which result to optimize expenditures and increase efficacy of carried out works. To determine level of oil pollution we advise our microbial ecology method which allows to classify each pollution. Measurement of absolute oil or oil-products content not always shows real condition of soil biological properties during estimation of cleaning degree. Our ecological and microbiological method of estimation restoration quality of soil properties in collaboration with determinations physical and chemical methods of determining absolute oil content allows to value cleaned degree of polluted soil rather reasonably. This method was approved during estimation of soil properties restoration, which were polluted by emergency floods of oil on pipe-line.