Bioremediation of Soil Contaminated with Petroleum Hydrocarbons Collected from Arid and Semi Arid Regions of Rajasthan

Abstract

Hydrocarbon contamination is one of the major environmental problems newlinetoday. They are the major source of soil and water pollution. Hydrocarbon newlinecomponents belong to the family of carcinogens and neurotoxic organic pollutants. newlineGenerally the conventional, mechanical and chemical methods are employed to newlineremove hydrocarbons from contaminated sites but they have limited effectiveness newlineand adversely affect the environment and moreover they are expensive enough to newlineapply. Many indigenous microorganisms are capable of degrading hydrocarbon newlinecontaminants. Biological treatment or microbial degradation is the major and newlineultimate natural mechanism by which one can clean up the petroleum hydrocarbon newlinepollutants from the environment. The use of micro-organisms to destroy or to reduce newlinethe concentration of hazardous waste on a contaminated site is called newlinebioremediation. Thus employing the high efficiency, eco-friendly and low costs newlinebioremediation process represents an extremely important alternative to remediate newlineoil-contaminated area in contrast to other conventional clean up techniques. newlineThe present research study is about Bioremediation of soil contaminated newlinewith Petroleum Hydrocarbons collected from arid and semi-arid regions of newlineRajasthan . Present study attempts to the collection of petroleum hydrocarbon newlinecontaminated soil samples from Barmer (arid), Jaipur and Ajmer (semi-arid) regions newlineof Rajasthan, physico-chemical characterization of these collected soil samples, newlineisolation and identification of indigenous microflora from collected soil samples, newlinedetermination of optimum growth conditions of these microorganisms for the newlinedegradation of 2Tengine oil, determination of oil degradation potential of these newlineisolates using Gas chromatography-Mass spectrometry and finally the best newlinepetroleum hydrocarbon degraders were genetically characterized. newlineFrom the findings of present research work it can be concluded that newlinepetroleum hydrocarbons changes the nature of soil and adversely affect the physicochemical newlineproperties of soil. The following fungi and bacteria were isolated from newlinecontaminated soil- Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A. awamori, A. terreus, Fusarium newlinespp, Penicillium spp, Bacillus subtilis strain BBSC1, Bacillus subtilis strain BABvii newline2936, Serratia spp, Micrococcus spp and Staphylococus respectively. The Gas newlinechromatography-Mass spectrometry study showed that out of all fungal isolates newlineAspergillus niger, A. flavus and A. awamori were found to have high efficiency to newlinedegrade 2T engine oil (1% v/v) at temperature 280C and pH 7. Among all the newlinebacterial isolates- Bacillus subtilis strain BBSC1 and Bacillus subtilis strain BAB- newline2936 were found to have high efficiency to degrade 2T engine oil (1%v/v) at newlinetemperature 370C and pH 7. The degradation efficiency of fungal isolates was in the newlineorder: Aspergillus niger (68%) gt A. flavus (52%) gt A. awamori (50%) gt Fusarium newlinespp (38%)gt A. terreus (28%) gt Penicillium spp (12%). The degradation efficiency newlineof the bacterial isolates was in the order as given: Bacillus subtilis strain BBSC1 newline(68%) gt Bacillus subtilis strain BAB-2936 (52%) gt Serratia spp (38%) gt newlineMicrococcus spp (35%) gt Staphylococcus spp (30%). newlinePresent research work concluded that all the isolated bacterial and fungal newlinestrains were capable of degrading 2T engine oil and is suggested to apply in future newlinefor the bioremediation of soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons. newlineThe implications of present research presents a study of the bioremediation newlineof petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soil by a series of controlled laboratory newlinetests. It aims at providing guidelines for remediation of hydrocarbons which are now newlineconsidered as one of the major global environmental problem. Applications covered newlineproduction, distribution and storage of these materials in areas where spillage can newlineoccur. It contributes to global and social demands for a better and clean newlineenvironment. newline