Iranian Journal of

Background and Objective: Bioremediation of contaminants by living microorganisms is a favorable method for elimination or degradation of pollutants to less harmful substances. In the recent decades, cell immobilization technique has been applied to improve biodegradation efficiency and also overcome to free cells disadvantages. The purpose of this review article is to investigate the application of cell immobilization technology with emphsize on polymeric matrices in the aromatic pollutants removal in laboratory scale (shake flask and bioreactor). Also, the performance of free and immobilized cells has been compared in various environmental conditions.
Materials and Methods: In this survey 401, 78, 49, 1450, 0 and 0 relevant articles were found on Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Google scholar, SID and Magiran databases, respectively by using keywords such as “Cell immobilization”, “Biodegradation” and “Aromatic. Out of 1978 articles, 1167 articles were excluded from the study. Finally, 811 articles were further reviewed.
Results: According to the previous studies, removal of contaminants by immobilized cells using appropriate matrices is higher than freely suspended cell systems. Also, among the cell immobilization systems, cell entrapment in the polymeric carriers is the most widely used method for the bioremediation of aromatic contaminants.
Conclusion: Regarding the superiority of immobilized cells in comparison with free cells specially in harsh environments, the reuse of immobilized cells and their application in bioreactors as well as their scale up potential, development and application of these methods can be considered by researchers for wastewater treatment in our country.
 

Background and Objective: Earthworms are important in soil formation. They maintain soil structure and fertility and can be used as indicators to evaluate various changes and impacts. Therefore, the present study was developed to investigate the effects of diesel pollutant on the population and survival of the earthworm species E.fetida in the co-vermicomposting process.
Materials and Methods: This experimental study was conducted over 90 days to investigate the effects of diesel concentration on the survival of E.fetida in the co-vermicomposting process. One kilogram of soil contaminated with diesel, vermicompost, and raw activated sludge was added to each reactor in a ratio of 0.25:0.35:1. 10. Additionally, 20 adult E. fetida were added to the reactors with diesel concentrations of 10 and 30 g/L after the adaptation process.
Results: The survival of earthworms and the formation of cocoons in reactor number 3 were higher than in other reactors. Additionally, the amount of diesel removal in reactor number 3 (diesel concentration: 10 g/kg dried soil +20 E.fetida) was higher (70.5%) compared to the other reactors.
Conclusion: The results of the study showed that earthworm reproduction is more sensitive than survival or weight change to higher concentrations of diesel-contaminated soil. The presence of petroleum compounds in the soil is harmful for the growth of E.fetida, and its acute effects on the production of earthworm cocoons were observed.