Data supporting the research on bioremediation strategies of the sequential Fenton reaction-biodegradation process for treating PAH-contaminated soil

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), commonly found in soil and sediment, pose substantial health risks due to their genotoxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic properties. The sequential Fenton reaction and biodegradation process has been proposed to remediate PAH-contaminated soils. However, reactive oxygen species from the acidic residue of the Fenton reaction inhibits the activity of indigenous bacteria and reduces the effectiveness of subsequent biodegradation. This study develops two specific bioremediation strategies: bioaugmentation and biostimulation. The initial Fenton reaction removes 56–82% of pyrene (Pyr) at an optimized concentration of 14.4 mM Fe²⁺ and 206 mM H₂O₂ for 30 minutes. The subsequent biodegradation process following Fenton’s reaction involves bioaugmentation with neutralophilic or acidic PAH biodegraders. Pyrene biodegradation by acidophilic PAH biodegraders (pseudo-first-order rate constant, <em>k</em>=0.120 day^-1) is faster than that by neutralophilic PAH biodegraders (<em>k</em>=0.079 day^-1). <em>Acetobacter</em> sp. and <em>Pseudomonas</em> sp. play important roles as the dominant species during biodegradation, contributing 9.14±1.55 %- 9.22±1.96 % of neutralophilic PAH biodegraders and 22.42±2.81%–27.45±2.89% of acidic PAH biodegraders, respectively. For comparison, another subsequent biodegradation involved PAH biodegraders supplemented with a commercial biostimulant. The biodegradation rate of Pyr by neutralophilic PAH biodegraders (k=0.033 day^-1) was higher than that by acidic PAH biodegraders (<em>k</em>=0.014 day^-1). Biomineralization significantly increased to the range of 81.47%-82.88% during the biodegradation process by both neutralophilic and acidophilic PAH biodegraders. This study successfully develops the sequential Fenton reaction and biodegradation process using different bioremediation strategies, providing detailed information for future field-scale contaminated sites.