Mineralization of Petroleum Contaminated Wastewater by Co-Culture of Petroleum-Degrading Bacterial Community and Biosurfactant-Producing Bacterium

Abstract

Activity of a crude biosurfactant extracted from the culture fluid of Serratia sp. that was isolated from riverbed soil was shown to increase in proportion to the cultivation time, and was higher at pH 8 than at pH 7. Serratia sp. grew in the mineral-based medium with soybean oil but was not with kerosene-diesel. The petroleum-degrading bacteria—Acinetobacter sp., Pseudomonas sp., Paracoccus sp., and Cupriavidus sp.—were isolated from a specially designed enrichment culture. The efficiency of mineralization of wastewater contaminated with kerosene and diesel (WKD) by the petroleum-degrading bacterial community (PDBC) was enhanced significantly by addition of the crude biosurfactant. The efficiency of mineralization of the WKD was also about 2 times boosted by co-culture of Serratia sp. and PDBC. Bacterial community of Serratia sp. and PDBC co-cultivated in the WKD was maintained for at least 8 days according to the TGGE pattern of 16S rDNA obtained from the bacterial culture. In conclusion, the co-culture of Serratia sp. and PDBC is an applicable technique for the mineralization of wastewater contaminated with petroleum, which may substitute for chemical or biological surfactant.