International Journal of Environmental Engineering Science and Technology Research Vol. 2, No. 1, January 2014, PP: 1 -7, ISSN: 2326 - 3113 (Online) Available online at http://ijestr.org/ 1 Research article Bioremediation of Transport Industry Contaminants Using Vermicompost M. M. Manyuchi and A. Phiri Department of Chemical and Process Systems Engineering Harare Institute of Technology Ganges Rd, Belvedere, Harare, Zimbabwe E-mail: mmanyuchi@hit.ac.zw Abstract Transport industries pose environmental challenges due to leaks of engine oils both to soil and water. Engine oil is highly organic therefore there is need to bio-remediate the contaminated soil and wastewater in order to preserve the environment. Soil and wastewater contaminated with diesel engine oil were bio-remediated using vermicompost containing live Eisenia Fetida earthworms and cocoons over a 4 week period. The contaminated soil and water pH and electrical conductivity (EC) were monitored during this period. Furthermore, the wastewater dissolved oxygen (DO) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) were determined. The pH in the contaminated soil decreased from 7.2 to 6.2 whilst that in the contaminated wastewater increased from 5.8 to 7.2. The EC in both the diesel contaminated soil and wastewater showed a decrease of more than 19%. The DO in the wastewater showed a decrease upon addition of vermicompost and then later on increased. Lastly, the BOD in the wastewater, decreased by 16.9% upon addition of the vermicompost. Vermicompost can be used for the vermiremediation of soil and wastewater contaminated with engine oil in the transport industries. Copyright © IJESTR, all rights reserved. Keywords: BOD, DO, EC, Organic contaminants, pH, Vermicompost, Vermiremediation Introduction The transport industries pose huge environmental, agricultural and human health problems due to leakages of oils as well as unsafe disposal of their used engine oils. There is therefore need for application of bioremediation