Potential of Bioremediation and Biosurfactant Production by Native Bacterial Consortium Isolated from Petroleum Contaminated Soil
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Date
2023-06-01
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar-263145
Abstract
Owing to the growing demands for petroleum products, oil refineries and
petrochemical companies have released a significant amount of petroleum hydrocarbon
pollutants into the environment. However, due to its carcinogenic and mutagenic properties,
the widespread use and overexploitation of petroleum hydrocarbons presents serious risks.
Finding efficient methods to clean up sites contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons is thus
urgently needed. Microorganisms are potent and efficient degraders of hydrocarbon
contaminants as they utilize petroleum hydrocarbons as their primary carbon and energy
source for growth and metabolism. In this study, three indigenous diesel degrading bacterial
strains NB 6, NB 10 and NB 12 identified respectively as Onchobactrum intermedium,
Brevundimonas vancanneytii, and Rhodococcus pyridinivorans were isolated from petroleum
contaminated sites located in Haldwani and Lalkuan by enrichment technique. These strains
were then subjected to biocompatibility test for consortium preparation. The growth and
diesel degrading efficacy of the identified bacterial strains and consortium was studied invitro
for 35 days in Bushnell Hass broth supplemented with 1% (v/v) diesel. The results
obtained showed that the consortium gave the best growth, followed by R. pyridinivorans, B.
vancanneytii, and O. intermedium, degrading 93.14%, 73.41%, 68.21% and 60.17% of diesel
oil respectively. The three isolated strains were also identified as potential biosurfactant
producers, among which maximum quantity of biosurfactant was produced by NB 12 (3.52 g
L-1) followed by NB 6 (2.85 g L-1) and NB 10 (2.14 g L-1). The crude biosurfactant produced
by the isolates was extracted by cold acetone precipitation method and partially characterized
using Thin- Layer Chromatography and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy as
lipopeptides in nature. Ability to produce biosurfactants makes these strains worthy for
practical bioremediation of diesel oil contaminated sites. This study suggests metabolic
ability of microorganisms can be exploited in the bioremediation process to convert target
chemicals into non-toxic components or completely degrade the toxic hydrocarbon
components into CO2 and H2O.
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Academic Research