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8754477 
Journal Article 
Use of fungi in bioremediation of contaminated sites with hydrocarbons 
Abdullah, OA; Fathi, RA; Fadhel, MN 
2020 
0 
Plant Archives
ISSN: 0972-5210 
20 
1406-1410 
English 
Contamination of petroleum hydrocarbons is considered as one of the major environmental concerns facing the world nowadays. Bioremediation is a successful method to deal with such type of contamination. This study includes two steps of treatment the first is consisted of isolation and diagnosis of the most growing and widespread fungi in soil samples contaminated with crude oil taken from the Al-kask and Al-Qayara oil refineries, (28) fungal isolates belonging to the genus of Penicillium sp. and (23) fungal isolates of the Aspergillus sp., the genera were isolated from a total of (64) isolates that are isolated from soils contaminated with crude oil. While the second step is a study of the ability of isolated fungal genera to break down Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) which are found in crude oil concentrations (5%, 10%) that pollute soil samples as a source of carbon and energy, and to enhance processes by adding some auxiliary materials to fungus metabolism, such as humic acid. The analysis of samples by the GC device (Gas Chromatography) showed a clear decrease in concentrations of PAHs compared to non-injected soil samples with fungi genera (Penicillium sp., Aspergillus sp.). This is considered as an evidence of the fungal ability to break down the (PAHs). Penicillium sp. is more efficient in breaking down both polluted concentrations of crude oil (5%, 10%) and with removal rates reached to 32.10% and 25.50% for both concentrations respectively, whereas removal rates by Aspergillus sp. isolates of the same polluted concentrations were 19.28% and 13.72%, respectively. The addition of the humic acid with fungus gives huge effectiveness for fungal genera (Penicillium sp., Aspergillus sp.) to break down (PAHs) where the removal percentage increased to 56.70% at concentration (5%) and 44.50% for concentration (10%) by Penicillium sp. In contrast, the removal percentage by genus Aspergillus sp. enhanced with humic acid was 38.42% and 32.91% at the two concentrations (5%) and (10%), respectively. © 2020 Plant Archives. All rights reserved. 
Fungi; Humic acid; Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)