Studies on Parameters Influencing Bioremediation of Kerosene and Diesel Contaminated Environments

Abstract

Petroleum is one of the principal sources of fuel and chemical feedstock. Petroleum crude is refined into a wide range of products such as gasoline, kerosene, diesel, jet fuel, domestic and industrial fuel oils and other petrochemical feedstock. Diesel and kerosene, which are important and major fractions of petroleum, find their way to soil and water as contaminants due to their large scale production and widespread transportation, use, and disposal. For example, with the majority of the underground petroleum storage containers soil contamination is insidious, due to slow but constant leaks, and unending pollution of the soil continually takes place. Of the 3.2 billion tonnes of crude petroleum produced each year, an estimated 3.2 millions tones enter the marine environment (Chhatre et al., 1996). However when the petroleum carrier Exxon Valdez met with an accident, 11.2 million gallons of crude oil spilled at one time and it was the largest oil spill ever recorded in the United States and one of the largest in the world (Schnoor et al., 1991). Although diesel and kerosene are generally far less toxic to animal and plant life than many other environmental pollutants, they are nevertheless hazardous due to the large volumes involved. Further, the biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil is often relatively slow. It is therefore desirable to decontaminate locations that have had high cumulative or shock loadings of these hydrocarbons. The physicochemical methods of clean up are the best established, but are generally only suitable for the upper region of the soil column since excavation is normally required. The decontamination of the soils by microbiological means could be efficient, economic, and versatile (Morgan and Watkinson, 1989). newlineOil spill prevention technologies need substantial and sustained research and development. The combination of inadequate technology, insufficient equipment, and ineffective management of the available resources pose serious threat to soil and groundwater ecosystems.