Fingerprinting hydrocarbons in a crude oil contaminated agricultural soil and its bioremediation employing bacterial consortium

863-869Consistent fossil fuel exploration and production leads to environment deterioration. Oil spills make agricultural soil infertile and also pollute groundwater which becomes harmful to humans and other organisms. In this study, we explored ecofriendly method for biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons from crude oil contaminated agricultural soil using hydrocarbon utilizing bacterial consortium (HUBC). Soil microcosms were designed to study degradation efficiency of HUBC for petroleum hydrocarbons present in crude oil. Residual petroleum hydrocarbons were measured using gas chromatography. Bioaugmentation studies (with HUBC) showed 83.50±2.05% degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons contaminants at 60 days in crude oil contaminated agricultural soil microcosm. The hydrocarbon utilizing bacterial count in bioaugmented soil microcosm was noted to be 0.60±0.02×108 CFU/g at 60 days i.e. at the end of experiment, which was noted to be 4.90±0.07×107 CFU/g at the start of experiment. Ability of the consortium (used in the presented study) to survive in artificially contaminated agricultural soil microcosm and to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons effectively in soil microcosm conditions shows its potential to be used for bioremediation of agricultural soil and its restoration

Crude oil degradation by <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i> NCIM 5514: Influence of process parameters

493-497Petroleum hydrocarbon pollution is a major environmental concern in developing countries as these pollutants cause hazardous effects to the ecosystems and environment. Green technologies using microorganisms for remediation of these pollutants have gained considerable attention. Petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants degrading and biosurfactant producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa NCIM 5514 was isolated from crude oil polluted site of Ankleshwar, Gujarat, India. Effect of agitation, temperature, pH, NaCl concentration, petroleum and non-petroleum carbon source and its concentrations, nitrogen sources and inoculum ratio on growth of P. aeruginosa NCIM 5514 were studied. Optimum growth of P. aeruginosa NCIM 5514 was observed at 1% (w/v) glucose, pH 7.2, incubation at 37°C at 180 rpm with 1% (v/v) inoculum for four days. However, this organism also utilized crude oil and glycerol as sole carbon source. Thus, P. aeruginosa used in the presented study here appeared as a mesophilic, halotolerant, aerobic, crude oil utilizer strain. Bioaugmentation studies of this bacterial isolate would help exploring its commercial feasibility in bioremediation of subsurface oil spill