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

石油和天然气作业造成的土壤污染正日益引起公众、政府和行业的关注。原位生物修复已被证明是一种很有前途的石油烃(PHC)污染场地清理技术。然而，重金属在PHC污染场地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。拟议的研究试图通过开发一套先进的实验方法来促进PHCS和重金属共污染场地的生物表面活性剂强化的生物修复，以应对这一挑战并填补知识和技术方面的空白。它包括优化生物表面活性剂的生产、生物表面活性剂的迁移和归宿调查，以及生物修复过程中生物表面活性剂-污染物-土壤相互作用的探索。所开发的方法和相关技术将在试行规模的物理系统中进行审查，然后再应用于加拿大大西洋地区的真实案例。拟议的研究将全面考虑到生物修复引起的一些关切，并导致产生更有效的替代办法，这将是对补救工程知识的独特贡献。拟议的研究还将更好地了解生物表面活性剂在未受污染和受污染土壤中的行为，从而有助于了解机理探索。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有效性和能力，直接使大西洋加拿大内外的政府和行业受益。此外，学生将在多学科研究环境中参与和培训研究计划。训练有素的毕业生将满足工业、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.