Biochar amendment of aerobic composting for the effective biodegradation of heavy oil and succession of bacterial community

Soil pollution caused by petroleum pollutants from production trade activities in petroleum-related factories contributes serious threat to the environment and human health. Composting is technically-feasible and cost-effective in the biodegradation of heavy oil pollutants. This composting experiment was developed with four rice husk biochar (RHB) concentrations of 0 wt% (CK), 5 wt% (S1), 10 wt% (S2) and 15 wt% (S3) for the degradation of heavy oil. The results showed that RHB amendment could strengthen the degradation performance of heavy oil, and the degradation efficiencies for CK, S1, S2 and S3 were 59.67%, 65.00%, 73.29% and 74.82%, respectively. Microbial community succession process was investigated through high-throughput sequencing technology, and the RHB addition regulated bacterial community succession and further effectively facilitated the biodegradation of heavy oil in composting. This study substantiated that biochar materials-amended aerobic composting would be a promising strategy for the biodegradation of petroleum pollutants.