Bioremediation Technology Potential for Management of Soil and Water Pollution from Anticipated Rapid Industrialization and Planned Oil and Gas Sector in Uganda: A Review
Loading...
Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Environmental Protection
Abstract
Oil exploitation in many African countries is associated with litigation and
conflicts to water and soil pollution. It is because of inadequate planning for
management of oil spills and industrial effluents in environmentally sustainable
manner. Uganda’s natural resources such as soils and water bodies are
threatened by contamination due to rapid industrialization and rural-urban
migration in established Industrial Business Parks and planned oil and gas
production at Albertine Graben Region. The low level of compliance to industrial
effluents discharge standards relevant to specific environmental receptors
and activities within oil and gas sector development pose a big question
of how to sustain the biodiversity and natural resource management. Experiences
from elsewhere have shown bioremediation as a viable and proven
option to provide potentially manageable solutions to resulting pollution as a
substitute to modern well-known remediation methods, for it is relatively
cheaper, more efficient and minimal toxic byproducts after treatment. The
most used bioremediation agents in different studies reviewed are bacterial
species especially Pseudomonas and Bacillus , followed by Aspergillus a fungi
species, microalgae and aquatic plants such as duckweed , macrophytes and
pteridophytes . Regardless of the waste produced in either oil and gas sector or
industries, these agents have shown greater biodegradation rates. Pseudomonas
sp. has a degradation efficiency of oil compounds ranging from 90% -
100%, and Aspergillus sp. 75% - 95%. Some aquatic plants can thrive in
created wetlands with relatively still water such as Phragmites australis which
can degrade hydrocarbons especially Aromatic compounds with benzene ring up to 95%. It can thrive in salty water with high pH range of 4.8 - 8.2. With
industrial wastewater, algae is the most dominant with the degradation rates
varying from 65% -100% and bacteria at 70% - 90%. Most of the reported results
are in the developed country context. In developing countries, duckweed
is reported as the commonest aquatic plant in wastewater treatment for removal
of heavy metals because it is more tolerant to a wide range of environmental
conditions and produce biomass faster. It has a removal rate of heavy
metals between 90% and 100%. Basing on literature data analysis, bacteria are
more suitable for treating water from oil pollution using Pseudomonas sp.
Phragmites australis is suited for cleaning up oil in both water and soil.
Duckweed is the best in treating water polluted with industrial effluents. This
paper presents the different bioremediation methods that Uganda can potentially
apply to mitigate the increased risk of environmental pollutions from
planned industrialization and oil and gas development in the Albertine Graben
Region.
Description
Keywords
Bioremediation Potential, Industrialization, Oil and Gas, Biodiversity, Pollution Management
Citation
Kabenge, I., Katimbo, A., Kiggundu, N. and Banadda, N. (2017) Bioremediation Technology Potential for Management of Soil and Water Pollution from Anticipated Rapid Industrialization and Planned Oil and Gas Sector in Uganda: A Review. Journal of Environmental Protection, 8, 1393-1423. https://doi.org/10.4236/jep.2017.811085