Optimization Issues for Bioremediation of Petroleum-Contaminated Soils

The well-known two-factor regression model of the dependence of the rate of oil degradation in soil on such factors as the initial petroleum concentration and exposure time is analyzed. The functional relation between these two factors is considered. Two optimization problems have been formulated to find the maximum value of the integral estimate of the rate of petroleum degradation on a variety of contaminated soils. The solution of the first optimization problem shows that the maximum value is achieved in the presence of a linear increasing dependence of the initial concentration on the exposure time. The solution of the second problem shows the possibility of a slight shift of the solution to the first problem along the y-axis.