How can mankind get rid of petroleum products in the soil?

Nargiz Unayeva, a first-year master’s student of the Faculty of Ecology, devoted her qualification work to the problem of reclamation of oil-contaminated lands in Western Kazakhstan using the bioremediation method.

What is the essence of this method?

Bioremediation is the introduction of strains of microorganisms to reduce the concentration of pollutants in the environment. The essence of this study is to prove that bioremediation is not only an effective method of cleaning, but also the most appropriate for the region.

Nargiz took part in joint work with employees of the “Embamunaigas” oil company:

• in taking soil samples for analysis, it was investigated how polluted the soil was, the content of oil hydrocarbons, oil products and heavy metals in it;
• in the study of the bioremediation process, i.e. cleaning of the territory, and the seeding of microorganisms (preparations);
• the subsequent analysis of the samples taken and the analysis of how the soil composition has changed after bioremediation;
• in the processing and interpretation of the data obtained and entering them into the general database.

Thus, bioremediation was applied in Western Kazakhstan, whose area is characterized by rather difficult natural and climatic conditions, due to which there is contamination of groundwater, salty soils, as well as the presence of oridality.

“In preparation for my study, through a detailed scientific literature review, I learned that not only has bioremediation not previously been used in this region, but that it is also rarely practiced in other countries. The reason is that it is a rather long process, so scientists are much more likely to use other cleaning methods that are faster, but not very effective. I would like to express my confidence that the further development of this topic will be of great importance for the whole world,” Nargiz said.

However, not all land reclamation methods apply in practice, so the essence of this study was to prove that bioremediation is not only an effective way of cleaning, but also the most appropriate for the region.