Nature-based solutions for contaminated site remediation: Key principles and a practical case

Abstract

The article considers opportunities applying nature-based solutions to remediate oil-contaminated sites. It is suggested using such industrial wastes as brewer’s spent grain, beet pulp, and lignin as structurers. It is demonstrated that structurers bearing such genes as Bacillus, Arthrobacter, etc. perform as active petroleum degraders. It was found out that the hydrocarbon removal rate ranged from 90 to 99% for all structurers studied. It is recommended using 1% of the lignin-based degrader to reduce hydrocarbon content in soils preparing them to the future phytoremediation.