Vermiremediation strategy for remediation of Kuwaiti oil contaminated soil

Abstract

Abstract The role of vermiremediation technique has been accepted all over the world for many years to reduce the concentrations of pollutant in the contaminated soil to acceptable levels. However, limited study has been found in the case of Kuwaiti oil contaminated sand using earthworms. This paper address the potential of decomposing petroleum hydrocarbons in terms of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) present in Kuwaiti oil contaminated sand ranging from 5000 to 25,000 mg/kg using earthworms (Eisenia fetida). It was observed that the TPH of < 5000 mg/kg was not harmful for the survival of earthworms, nevertheless TPH of 10,000 mg/kg reduced their survival to 50%. Moreover, the results indicate that that vermiremediation could effectively reduce the TPH of about 5000 mg/kg every 5 weeks. This study suggested that the crude oil could be consider as one of the main challenging for the survival of earthworms, therefore several factors such as type of soil, moisture content, temperature, organic matter content and pH need to maintain and enhance during the remediation process to support the earthworm’s activity.