327 - Critical Evaluation of Environmental Factors Influencing the Microbial Bioremediation of Hydrocarbons in the Arctic Region

The Arctic ecosystem is highly susceptible to hydrocarbon contaminants, and many factors such as permafrost thaw and petroleum spills have contributed to significant soil contamination in this region. Climate change can adversely affect and alter environmental conditions, effectively releasing previously frozen hydrocarbon contaminants into the surrounding ecosystems. Therefore, microbial bioremediation has been proposed and utilized as a cost-effective method to remediate carbon sources in soils without posing significantly harmful side effects. However, obtaining effective microbial bioremediation processes in cold temperatures poses significant challenges. Therefore, this study evaluates the factors influencing the effective bioremediation of hydrocarbons under Arctic environmental conditions. The qualitative and quantitative analysis will be focused on several factors to optimize the treatment, such as nutrient conditions, pH, microbial types, and carbon sources. Nutrients trapped in the active permafrost layer allow for effective bioremediation processes in the summer months. In this study, we developed a reactive-transport model to study the effect of nutrient availability and temperature on the bacteria growth rate. We use the current literature findings to identify the different types of hydrocarbon sources, bacteria present in the Arctic region, and the existing range of environmental conditions such as pH, moisture content, and nutrient conditions. Reactive transport is used to simulate the bioremediation process under different environmental conditions to identify the parameters that critically affect the decay of hydrocarbons. The reactive transport model uses a modified Monod equation by relating the growth rate of bacteria to the concentration of the hydrocarbons and nutrient availability. We perform a sensitivity analysis of hydrocarbon bioremediation using the literature values of environmental conditions in the Arctic region. We also include hypothetical scenarios that study the impact of climate change on environmental conditions and hydrocarbon decay. The results from this study can be used to identify the critical environmental parameters that can impact the bioremediation of hydrocarbons in the Arctic region.