Effects of Cyclodextrin on Extraction and Fungal Remediation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon-contaminated Mahoning River Sediment

Abstract

The effects of β-cyclodextrin on the extraction and fungal remediation of PAHs in historically contaminated river sediment were examined in this study. Sediment collected from Lowellville, Ohio were incubated for 42 days and amended with paper, sawdust nitrogen supplement to stimulate fungal growth. The surfactant, β-cyclodextrin was added to increase the availability of non-polar PAHs from the sediment. The samples were extracted via a sonication method based on the USEPA method 3550, purified and analyzed by GC-MS. The total low molecular weight PAHs showed degradation of 64% and the total high molecular weight PAHs, a degradation of 57% for the sediment treated with the fungi Pleurotus ostreatus, sawdust and nitrogen. The low molecular weight compound fluorene degraded by 76% for sawdust-treated samples amended with fungi and β-cyclodextrin whereas the high molecular weight PAH chrysene showed only 8% degradation for the same treatment. Overall the effect of β-cyclodextrin on the PAH degradation was inconsistent, it did not improve the most effective treatment (sawdust, fungi and nitrogen), but did improve the degradation in less effective treatments.