Bioremediation of carbofuran contaminated soil under saturated condition: soil column study

Disturbed soil columns, 5.8 cm in diameter and 25 cm in length, were used as a basic model to simulate the movement of carbofuran in rice field soil under saturated conditions. Bioaugmentation using a specific carbofuran degrader, Burkholderia sp. PCL3, in free and immobilized cell forms and biostimulation using rice straw as organic amendment were applied with the aim of enhancing the degradation of carbofuran in soil and to prevent the movement of carbofuran along with the flow through. In the abiotic control and the treatment with only indigenous microorganisms, the mass recovery percentage of carbofuran in the effluent was 52.1 and 22.5%, respectively. The application of bioaugmentation or biostimulation significantly enhanced carbofuran degradation in soil and reduced the movement of carbofuran as indicated by a low mass recovery percentage of carbofuran in the effluent of 14.6–15.5%. A low efficiency of carbofuran removal was obtained from the soil column with bioaugmentation together with biostimulation treatments in which the mass recovery percentage of carbofuran in the effluent was in the range of 22.1–22.6%. Sorption of carbofuran to soil, rice straw and corncob, formation of carbofuran metabolite and colony forming unit (CFU) and pH variation with the time were also investigated during column operation.