Grant: Industrial Research Chairs

In the first term of this IRC program, we developed and demonstrated a reliable technique to reduce hydrocarbons by over 90% at six sites polluted with gasoline or diesel. The goal of the second term of this IRC is to develop approaches that will further reduce hydrocarbons in soil to minimal levels. We hypothesize that there is an optimal balance of fertilizer components such as phosphate, magnesium, citrate, sulfate, iron, and nitrate that will stimulate a robust degrading microbial community. We will develop new ways to calculate what this optimal balance across the many different Prairie soil types. To develop the new calculations, we will identify the balance of microbes and ions associated with successful remediation and then create a new fertilizer mix that will stimulate successful remediation across western Canada. We hypothesize that organic or fatty acids added to the biostimulatory solution may be critical to this trace remediation, or that there is an organic phosphorus compound associated with trace remediation. Alternatively, the interactions between microbes and minerals may increase in importance at very low hydrocarbon concentrations and we need to understand how minerals control remediation. The first IRC term provided training for 36 personnel, of which 20 were women, and the second phase envisions training an additional 19 to 40 personnel. Students readily found employment in the environmental sector because the students work closely with industry, building soft skills and a business network. In so doing, the IRC program provides an ideal bridge for students to cross from their academic training to employment in their chosen field of study. At the conclusion of this second term of the IRC, we will have developed, deployed and validated an economically viable method