Abstract
An experimental study was undertaken to assess the efficiency of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, and Acinetobacter lwoffi isolated from petroleum contaminated water and soil samples to degrade crude oil, separately and in a mixed bacterial consortium. Capillary gas chromatography was used for testing the effect of those bacterial species on the biodegradation of crude oil. Individual bacterial cultures showed less growth and degradation than did the mixed bacterial consortium. At temperature 22°C, the mixed bacterial consortium degraded a maximum of 88.5% of Egyptian crude oil after 28 days of incubation. This was followed by 77.8% by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 76.7% by Bacillus subtilis, and 74.3% by Acinetobacter lwoffi. The results demonstrated that the selected bacterial isolates could be effective in biodegradation of oil spills individually and showed better biodegradation abilities when they are used together in mixed consortium.
Highlights
Oil spillage and oil pollution in water environment have been a major threat to the ecosystem and human being through the transfer of toxic organic materials including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into the food chain [1]
Since crude oil is made of a mixture of compounds, and since individual microorganisms metabolize only a limited range of hydrocarbon substrates [13, 14], biodegradation of crude oil requires mixture of different bacterial groups or consortia functioning to degrade a wider range of hydrocarbons [14, 15]
Bacterial strains (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, and Acinetobacter lwoffi) used in this study were identified in many ecological studies of Leahy and Colwell [11] and AlSaleh et al [14] among hydrocarbon degrading microorganisms
Summary
Oil spillage and oil pollution in water environment have been a major threat to the ecosystem and human being through the transfer of toxic organic materials including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into the food chain [1]. The success of bioremediation technologies applied to hydrocarbon-polluted environments highly depends on the biodegrading capabilities of native microbial populations or exogenous microorganisms used as inoculants [8, 9]. The presence of microorganisms with the appropriate metabolic capabilities is the most important requirement for oil spill bioremediation [10]. The adapted microbial communities can respond to the presence of hydrocarbon pollutants within hours [12] and exhibit higher biodegradation rates than communities with no history of hydrocarbon contamination [11]. The aim of this study was to isolate local bacterial species which have the ability to biodegrade crude oil and compare its biodegradation abilities in case of single use with mixed consortium
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