Surfactant-aided mycoremediation of soil contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs): progress, limitation, and countermeasures

Soil contaminated with hydrophobic organic hydrocarbons, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pose a serious threat to the ecosystem and human health. Moreover, the sorption and desorption of the PAHs, due to the interaction with the soil organic matter (SOM) and other contaminants, greatly affect the fate and mycoremediation efficiency of the contaminated soil. On the other hand, the application of surfactants with or without additives for the mobilization of PAHs from contaminated soil has garnered increasing attention for soil remediation. In this context, several commercial surfactants and biosurfactants were reported either as soil flushing agents or soil additives, followed by either in situ or ex situ mycoremediation of the PAHs from contaminated soil. Hence, for a successful implementation of surfactants for mycoremediation of contaminated soil, a comprehensive introspection on its chemistry and mechanism is necessary. Thus, this review focuses primarily on understanding the effect of surfactants and the mechanism of desorption of PAHs from the soil. This work also emphasizes the effect of surfactants on the efficiency of mycoremediation of contaminated soil. Further, the review summarizes various surfactant-assisted mycoremediation strategies of contaminated soil. Finally, the limitations of surfactant-assisted mycoremediation, precipitative, and partitioning loss, along with toxicity of the surfactants, were reviewed. Thus, this review will aid in understanding the underlying mechanism and efficiency of surfactant-assisted mycoremediation and it also proposes current research trends to improve the efficiency and enhance the bioremediation of PAHs-contaminated soil. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).