Microbial Degradation of Petroleum Hydrocarbon

Abstract

The present research was undertaken to isolate and characterize petroleum hydrocarbon degrading microbes from ship-breaking yards at Vatiary and Kumira coast in Chittagong. Twenty different petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated composite samples were collected and the total bacterial count was found to vary between 2.7×10 3 cfu/ gm and 1.77×10 7 cfu/ gm. Ten isolates were finally selected through secondary screening by Bushnell-Hass mineral salt medium using kerosene, diesel and engine oil as carbon source. They were provisionally identified and found closely related to the species Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas alcaligenes, Listeria grayi, Bacillus pasteurii, Bacillus badius, Bacillus cirroflagellosus, Bacillus circulans, Bacillus brevis and Citrobacter freundii. Greasy spot test was used as the primary indicator of microbial degradation of kerosene, diesel and engine oil. A more specific experiment was carried out to estimate the rate of degradation by the isolates. The highest (96.8%) degradation of diesel was shown by B. brevis, followed by 92%, 88.8% and 84.8% of diesel degradation by the strains of P. alcaligenes, B. cirroflagellosus and C. freundii, respectively. The highest degradation of kerosene (78.26%) and engine oil (43.97%) by S. aureus and L. monocytogenes respectively, were also observed.

Reciprocal Effects of Oil-contaminated Soil and Festuca (Tall fescue)

“…The oily shield may prevent free diffusion of oxygen to microenvironment area in the soil. Oxygen plays an important role in the biodegradation of crude oil and its components (Von Wedel et al 1998;Ahamed et al 2010).…”

Kerosene tolerance in Achromobacter and Pseudomonas species

“…e HPTLC: A. spanius IBB Po18 (1), P. putida IBB Po19 (2), P. aeruginosa IBB Po20 (3), A. spanius IBB Po21 (4), P. aeruginosa IBB Po22 (5), control (C, uninoculated medium), kerosene (C, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5); residual kerosene (RKe); plate visualized and scanned under UV and visible light not surprising to observe these differences since P. aeruginosa strains are the best known bacteria able to utilize a number of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons as the carbon and energy sources (Pacwa-Płociniczak et al 2014). The ability of other Achromobacter (Mazumdar et al 2015) and Pseudomonas (Silva et al 2006;Ahamed et al 2010) strains to grow on kerosene as the carbon and energy source was earlier reported. Achromobacter sp.…”

“…It is generally recognized that no single species is able to completely degrade any complex mixture of hydrocarbons (Chikere et al 2011;Patowary et al 2016). However, several Achromobacter and Pseudomonas strains able to grow on kerosene as the carbon and energy source have been reported (Silva et al 2006;Ahamed et al 2010;Mazumdar et al 2015).…”

Isolation and Characterization of Hydrocarbon Degrading Bacteria from Petrol Contaminated Soil

“…In this method growth of 12 isolated bacterial strains was studied [23] on nutrient agar plates in the presence of five selected aromatic hydrocarbons (at 0.25 % w/v concentration). 100 L of 0.25 % of each hydrocarbon solution was spread onto nutrient agar plates and the plates were kept open near the flame for 5 minutes so that organic solvent could evaporate and only hydrocarbon compounds would remain on the plates.…”

“…The growth pattern of hydrocarbon degrading strains was also studied [23] on nutrient agar plate by using 0.25 % of five hydrocarbons i.e. naphthalene, phenanthrene, biphenyl, anthracene and xylene.…”