Role of Enzyveba in the aerobic bioremediation and detoxification of a soil freshly contaminated by two different diesel fuels

The biodegradability of two commercial diesel fuels, i.e., Diesel and HiQ Diesel, herewith designated as G1 and G2, respectively, spiked to an agricultural soil at 10 g kg−1 was studied under aerobic slurry-phase conditions in the absence and in the presence of Enzyveba, i.e., a characterized commercial source of microorganisms and nutrients. A quite similar hydrocarbon composition was displayed by G1 and G2, which were found to be both extensively and almost completely biodegraded under all conditions after 4.5 months of treatment with a remarkable depletion of initial soil ecotoxicity, in particular in the G2 spiked one. The addition of Enzyveba resulted in a higher availability of cultivable specialized bacteria and fungi in the reactors but this only resulted in a slight intensification of soil bioremediation, probably because of the high contents of nutrients and indigenous specialized microorganisms of the soil. A faster biodegradation of hydrocarbons and a more rapid and extensive depletion of initial ecotoxicity were generally observed in the soil reactors spiked with G2 with respect to those spiked with G1 probably for the G2 content of additives capable of improving hydrocarbons bioavailability.