Studies on the utilization of petroleum hydrocarbon by microorganisms isolated from oil-contaminated soil

Abstract

Five genera of crude oil utilizing microorganisms were isolated from oil-contaminated soil. The organisms were identified as Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas putida, Aspergillus niger and Mucor plumbus. The isolates were tested for their ability to utilize Bonny Light crude oil using the gravimetric method. The percentage oil utilization for all the isolates ranged between 60.53 and 80.27% after 28 days of incubation. P. putida gave the highest percentage utilization of 80.27% and a rate of utilization of 0.46 mg/ml/day. Increased percentage utilization of 81.58% and rate of utilization of 0.47 mg/ml/day was achieved by a co-culture of P. putida and M. plumbus. The results obtained in this study suggest that P. putida is preferable for treatment of oil spill incidents and that its co-culture with M. plumbus could enhance crude oil utilization.

International Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences Vol. 1(2) 2005: 122-128