{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,27]],"date-time":"2026-09-27T15:57:39Z","timestamp":1790524659965,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"24","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,8]],"date-time":"2022-12-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1670457600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People\u2019s Republic of China","award":["2018YFC1803302"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2018YFC1803302"]}]},{"name":"the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People\u2019s Republic of China","award":["2019YFC1804202"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2019YFC1804202"]}]},{"name":"the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People\u2019s Republic of China","award":["41991331"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["41991331"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["2018YFC1803302"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2018YFC1803302"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["2019YFC1804202"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2019YFC1804202"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["41991331"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["41991331"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The contamination of soil and groundwater with BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylenes) is a common issue at petrochemical sites, posing a threat to the ecosystems and human health. The goal of this study was to evaluate the biodegradation of BTEX in the subsurface of a petrochemical site near the Yangtze River, thus providing scientific basis for bioremediation of the contaminated site. Both molecular analysis of field samples and microcosm study in the laboratory were performed for the evaluation. Soil and groundwater samples were collected from the site. Microcosms were constructed with inoculum from the soil and incubated anaerobically in the presence of nitrate, ferric oxide, manganese oxide, sulfate, and sodium bicarbonate, respectively. The initial concentration of each component of BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, o-xylene) was 4\u20135 mg\/L. Actinobacteria was dominant in the highly contaminated soil, while Proteobacteria was dominant in the slightly contaminated soil and the groundwater. The relative abundances of Firmicutes, Spirochaetes, and Caldiserica were higher in the highly contaminated soil and groundwater samples compared to those in the corresponding slightly contaminated samples. The relative abundances of predicted functions, such as carbohydrate transport and metabolism, nucleotide transport and metabolism, coenzyme transport and metabolism, amino acid transport and metabolism, etc., in the highly contaminated soil and groundwater samples were higher than those in the corresponding slightly contaminated samples. In microcosms, biodegradations of BTEX occurred, and the first-order rate constants in the presence of various electron acceptors had the following order: sulfate (0.08\u20130.10\/d) &gt; sodium bicarbonate (0.07\u20130.09\/d) &gt; ferric oxide (0.04\u20130.06\/d) &gt; nitrate (0.03\u20130.05\/d) &gt; manganese oxide (0.01\u20130.04\/d).<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph192416449","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,8]],"date-time":"2022-12-08T02:17:57Z","timestamp":1670465877000},"page":"16449","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Evaluation of Biodegradation of BTEX in the Subsurface of a Petrochemical Site near the Yangtze River, China"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Xuexia","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shuai","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lijin","family":"Yi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhengwei","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Safety and Control for Chemicals, SINOPEC Research Institute of Safety Engineering Co., Ltd., Qingdao 266100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiangyu","family":"Ye","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bo","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shuai","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoxia","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Kong, H., and He, C. 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