Octanol/Water Partition Coefficient And Bioaccumulation Index Of Bonny Light Crude Oil In Cat Fish Clarias Agboyiensis In Laboratory-Dosed Sediments

Abstract

Octanol/water partition coefficient and bioaccumulation index of Bonny light crude oil, having a ractonal percentage composition of 81.11 saturate, 7.20 aromatcs, 2.48 ashphaltene and 9.21 residues, were studied in microcosm aquaria using a fresh water catfish Clarias agboyiensis. The partition coefficient K_ow) of the crude oil was evaluated to be 0.74. The mean bioaccumulation values of the petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) in the homogenates of the whole fish, liver and kdney at intervals of 24, 72 and 120 hours were respectvely 0.845 ± 0.118, 11.0 ± 0.058 and 15.0 ± 0.064 after exposing the whole fishto sedimentand water, respectively containing 31 μg/g and 190 μg/l of the crude oil in the aquarium. The mean bioaccumulation values of petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) in the tissue homogenates of the exposed fish were higher than in the control (p<0.05), thus suggesing that Bonny light crude oil with Kow of 0.74 could be lipophilic.

Keywords: Crude Oil, Bioaccumulation, Partition Coefficient, Clarias agboyiensis

Animal Research International Vol. 3 (1) 2006 pp. 422-425