Biosurfactant-enhanced Bioemediation of Petroleum hydrocarbon and Heavy Metal Co-contaminated Sites in Atlantic Canada

石油和天然气作业引起的土壤污染越来越受到公众、政府和工业界的关注。原位生物修复技术已被证明是一种很有前途的石油烃（PHC）污染场地的清理技术。然而，重金属在污染场地中的广泛共存影响了处理效率，这已成为环境研究人员和工程师面临的最具挑战性的任务之一。该研究试图通过开发一套先进的实验方法来促进生物表面活性剂增强的PHCs和重金属共污染场地的生物修复，以应对挑战并填补知识和技术的空白。它需要优化生物表面活性剂的生产，生物表面活性剂的运输和归宿调查，生物修复过程中的生物表面活性剂-污染物-土壤相互作用的探索任务。开发的方法和相关技术将在一个试点规模的物理系统中进行检查，然后再应用于加拿大大西洋地区的实际案例。拟议的研究将全面考虑到生物修复引起的一些问题，并导致产生更有效的替代品，这将是对修复工程知识的独特贡献。拟议的研究也将提供一个更好的了解生物表面活性剂的行为在未污染和污染的土壤，从而有助于了解机制的探索。这项研究将通过提高政府和行业在解决具有挑战性的地下污染问题方面的效率和能力，直接使加拿大大西洋地区及其他地区的政府和行业受益。此外，学生将参与并在多学科研究环境中的研究计划中接受培训。经过培训的毕业生将填补工业，政府和学术部门对环境工程专业人员的迫切需求，并为加拿大的竞争力和进步做出贡献。

Soil contamination caused by oil and gas operations is acquiring the growing attention of the public, governments and industries. In situ bioremediation has been proven to be a promising technology for cleaning up petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) contaminated sites. However, the wide co-existence of heavy metals at PHC-contaminated sites impairs the treatment efficiency, which has become one of the most challenging tasks facing environmental researchers and engineers. The proposed research attempts to take on the challenge and fill the gaps in knowledge and technology through developing a set of advanced experimental approaches for facilitating biosurfactant-enhanced bioremediation of PHCs and heavy metals co-contaminated sites. It entails tasks of optimized biosurfactant production, biosurfactant transport and fate investigation, and biosurfactant-contaminant-soil interaction exploration during bioremediation. The developed methodologies and associated technologies will be examined in a pilot-scale physical system before application to real-world cases in Atlantic Canada. The proposed research will comprehensively take into account a number of concerns arising from bioremediation and lead to generating more effective alternatives, which would represent a unique contribution to the knowledge of remediation engineering. The proposed research will also provide a better understanding of biosurfactant behaviours in both uncontaminated and contaminated soils, and thus contribute to knowledge of mechanisms exploration. This research will directly benefit governments and industries within Atlantic Canada and beyond by improving their effectiveness and capabilities in solving challenging subsurface contamination problems. In addition, students will be involved and trained in the research program within a multidisciplinary research setting. The trained graduates will fill a pressing need for environmental engineering professionals in industrial, governmental, and academic sectors, and contribute to Canadian competitiveness and advancement.