Hydrogen peroxide combined with surfactant leaching and microbial community recovery from oil sludge

The remediation effects of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) oxidation and surfactant-leaching alone or in combination on three typical oilfield sludges were studied. The removal efficiency of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) of Jidong, Liaohe and Jiangsu oil sludges by hydrogen peroxide oxidation alone was very poor (6.5, 6.8, and 3.4 %, respectively) but increased significantly (p < 0.05), especially of long-chain hydrocarbons, by combining the use of H₂O₂ with surfactants (80.0, 79.8 and 82.2 %, respectively). Oxidation combined with leaching may impair microbial activity and organic manure was therefore added to the treated sludges for biostimulation and the composition and function of the microbial community were studied. The addition of manure rapidly restored sludge microbial activity and significantly increased the relative abundance of some salt-tolerant and alkali-tolerant petroleum-degrading bacteria such as Corynebacterium, Pseudomonas, Dietzia and Jeotgalicoccus. Moreover, the relative abundance of two classic petroleum-degrading enzyme genes, alkane 1-monooxygenase and catechol 1, 2-dioxygenase, increased significantly.