Grant: Engage Grants Program
Memorial University of Newfoundland
$25,000.00
A biosurfactant aided composting approach and associated microarray analysis
FY 2015-16
Summary
. Composting has been selected by Nordlys Environmental, LP (""Nordlys"") as a main approach in the ex-situ
treatment of petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) contaminated soil in the Survival Tank Farm (STF) at 5 Wing
Goose Bay in Labrador. However, the application of composting to treat PHC contaminated soil faces several
challenges. Firstly, wide variations of treatment efficiencies have been reported due to diverse site conditions.
Settings tailored to specific soil conditions need to be obtained for STF remediation. Secondly, due to low
bioavailability of PHCs, appropriate composting amendments need to be identified for increasing the rate of,
and accelerating, the treatment process. Thirdly, the understanding of microbial communities and metabolic
pathways during composting is still extremely limited and has hindered effective process control.
The proposed project aims to address this knowledge and technical gap by developing a biosurfactant-aided
composting approach and conducting associated microarray analyses on soil samples from STF. The project
will: (1) develop a laboratory-scale composting system to obtain optimized operation conditions to efficiently,
and cost-effectively, treat site-specific contaminated soil; (2) apply a novel biosurfactant as the amendment to
increase the bioavailability of PHCs and accelerate the composting treatment; and (3) investigate microbial
community dynamics, metabolic pathways and corresponding functional genes in the composting remediation
system using GeoChip 5.0, a microarray-based metagenomics tool, and relate the results to composting process
control parameters. The proposed research will lead to a novel composting approach for the treatment of PHC
contaminated soil in STF. It will also greatly expand scientific knowledge on composting-associated microbial
communities. With the collaboration with Nordlys, the proposed project will provide a practical and innovative
solution that addresses the company's existing problems, generating a long-term benefit to the company, and
Canada, through technology transfer and field applications.
Program
Engage Grants Program
Recipient
Location
Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Recipient Type
Academia
Type
Grant
Source
NSERC's Awards Data
As published
Application id
491572-2015
Name nom
Zhang, Baiyu
Department département
Engineering and Applied Science, Faculty of
Organization id
89
Institution établissement
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Province en
Newfoundland and Labrador
Province fr
Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador
Country en
CANADA
Country fr
CANADA
Fiscal year exercice financier
2015
Competition year année de concours
2015
Award amount
25000
Program id
EGP
Program name en
Engage Grants Program
Program name fr
Programme de subventions d'engagement partenariat
Group en
Research partnerships programs
Group fr
Programmes de partenariat
Committee code
1551
Committee name en
Atlantic Internal Decision Committee
Committee name fr
Comité de décision interne pour l'Atlantique
Area of application code
1002
Area of application group en
Northern development
Area of application group fr
Développement du nord
Area of application en
Environment
Area of application fr
Environnement
Research subject code
1500
Research subject group en
Environmental engineering
Research subject group fr
Génie de l'environnement
Research subject en
Environmental engineering
Research subject fr
Génie de l'environnement
Partie
1
Nb partie
1
Application title
A biosurfactant aided composting approach and associated microarray analysis
Keyword
NSERC
Application summary
. Composting has been selected by Nordlys Environmental, LP (""Nordlys"") as a main approach in the ex-situ
treatment of petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) contaminated soil in the Survival Tank Farm (STF) at 5 Wing
Goose Bay in Labrador. However, the application of composting to treat PHC contaminated soil faces several
challenges. Firstly, wide variations of treatment efficiencies have been reported due to diverse site conditions.
Settings tailored to specific soil conditions need to be obtained for STF remediation. Secondly, due to low
bioavailability of PHCs, appropriate composting amendments need to be identified for increasing the rate of,
and accelerating, the treatment process. Thirdly, the understanding of microbial communities and metabolic
pathways during composting is still extremely limited and has hindered effective process control.
The proposed project aims to address this knowledge and technical gap by developing a biosurfactant-aided
composting approach and conducting associated microarray analyses on soil samples from STF. The project
will: (1) develop a laboratory-scale composting system to obtain optimized operation conditions to efficiently,
and cost-effectively, treat site-specific contaminated soil; (2) apply a novel biosurfactant as the amendment to
increase the bioavailability of PHCs and accelerate the composting treatment; and (3) investigate microbial
community dynamics, metabolic pathways and corresponding functional genes in the composting remediation
system using GeoChip 5.0, a microarray-based metagenomics tool, and relate the results to composting process
control parameters. The proposed research will lead to a novel composting approach for the treatment of PHC
contaminated soil in STF. It will also greatly expand scientific knowledge on composting-associated microbial
communities. With the collaboration with Nordlys, the proposed project will provide a practical and innovative
solution that addresses the company's existing problems, generating a long-term benefit to the company, and
Canada, through technology transfer and field applications.
