An industrial soil collected from a recycling factory was contaminated by DEHP and spilled diesel. The soils were divided into two batches for off-site ex situ bioremediation by SMC. This industrial soil was contaminated with 5.4-6.9 g/kg total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), 14.5--19.0 g/kg oil and grease and 95-99 mg/kg DEHP. The removal by 3% SMC amendment applied twice accounted for 56-64%, 31--33% and 51--54% disappearance of the TPH, oil and grease and DEHP contaminants, respectively. Beside chemical analysis, six bacteria and six fungi were inoculated into the sterilized soil samples for ecotoxicity tests. The original soil samples containing residual oil and DEHP contents were found to be more toxic than the SMC-treated soil. Thus SMC simultaneously degrades organic pollutants and reduces toxicity in less than a month. / An underground water sample contaminated with dibutyl phthalate (DBP, 127.5+/-20.7 mu1/1) and DEHP (67.0+/-7.7 mu1/1) was tested. One percent SMC could remove 94.2+/-3.6% and 100% for DBP and DEHP, respectively, within 1 h at room temperature. DBP and DEHP were degraded completely by SMCE except 0.2% SMCE for DBP after 24-h treatment. SMC had higher removal efficiencies than SMCE, because SMC had an integrated system of biosorption and biodegradation to remove DBP and DEHP. The sorption kinetics of DBP and DEHP by SMC could be described by the Freundlich monolayer model. Even after eight cycles of the sorption-desorption of DEHP SMC maintained the 100% removal efficiency. Thus SMC is a good biosorbent for DEHP. / Besides, DEHP-contaminated sediment was collected from Kai Tak Approach Channel, Kowloon. This sediment contained 44.4-128.0 mg/kg DEHP and heavy metals 21.3-23.4 mg/kg Cd, 24.9-43.5 mg/kg Ni, 128.5-198.5 mg/kg Pb, 144.6-329.2 mg/kg Zn and 164.5-230.0 mg/kg Cu, and bore an unpleasant sewer smell. SMC and SMCE as strong oxidizing agents could decrease the S content of sediment significantly as well as calcium nitrate, and consequently lowered the evolution of nuisance gas hydrogen sulfide. With the treatment of the optimized combination of 2.25% SMCE and 0.25% nitrate, the malodor could be removed completely and the contents of H2S and NH3 in the air were decreased significantly. For the degradation of organic pollutants, the target pollutant DEHP showed a sharp decrease in the first week in the time effect experiment after the treatment with the combination of 2.25% SMCE and 0.25% nitrate, while the decrease of DEHP slowed down in the second week. The results may be attributed to the immediate degradation of DEHP by enzymes in SMCE. When raw sediment and nitrate-treated sediment were bioremediated with SMCE, larger fluctuation in DEHP removal was observed with the nitrate-treated sediment. It supports that nitrate and SMCE would act in optimum at a certain combination. The effect on mobilization of sediment heavy metals by SMC or SMCE was also examined. Although some laboratory results suggested reduction of copper and lead, other results using different environmental samples of the sediment did not reproduce the results. Further investigation is needed. / Plasticizers are additives used in the manufacture of plastics, and high residual plasticizer levels are encountered in the environment. Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), being the most common plasticizer, is a suspected human carcinogen and an endocrine disruptor. Therefore, DEHP-contaminated soil, sediment and water samples were collected, and the bioremediation capacities of the spent compost of mushroom Pleurotus pulmonarius (SMC) were determined. / This study reveals the potential in applying SMC of P. pulmonarius in bioremediation of DEHP from the soil, sediment and water environments. More investigation and field studies would be appropriate for developing spent P. pulmonarius compost in environmental cleanup. / Using artificially spiked garden soil with DEHP and ultra-low sulphur diesel, the removal efficiencies of SMC were 41.7+/-9.8% and 36.1+/-8.4% for TP11 and DEHP, respectively. SMCE which contained the water-soluble nutrients, SMC enzymes and micro-organisms had about half removal efficiency of SMC on the same pollutant. The enriched SMC microorganisms also showed biodegradation of DEHP and diesel, so did the filtrate containing enzymes and nutrients of SMC. Thus SMC acted in multiple ways in bioremediation of DEHP: biostimulation and bioaugmentation. Besides, the immobilized lignolytic enzymes of the mushroom P. pulmonarius played a major role in biodegradation. / Gao, Ting. / "October 2009." / Adviser: S.W. Chiu. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-01, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 204-237). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

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