ABSTRACT
Four laboratory and greenhouse studies were executed in support of this project. The first study was the development of a mechanical shaking method for the extraction of petroleum hydrocarbons from contaminated soil. The overall objective of this study was to evaluate shaking methods for the extraction of volatile and semivolatile organic compounds from solids such as soils and soil-like materials. Despite different contaminants in the California and Virginia soils, shaking a 1-g soil sample with three successive aliquots of 10 ml of dichloromethane or acetone extracted concentrations of total petroleum hydrocarbon equivalent to standard soxhlet extraction for both soils. The use of plants to enhance bioremediation of contaminated soil has been described as an effective cleanup method. Multiple regression analysis provided similar results, but no significant improvements were observed in the R value of the regression line. The unvegetated uncontaminated soil had a fairly homogeneous distribution of microbes at week 7.
