African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (25), pp. 2520-2525, 29 December 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Review

Remediation of petroleum hydrocarbon polluted systems: Exploiting the bioremediation strategies

Okoh, A. I.^1* and Trejo-Hernandez, M. R.²

¹Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa.

²Centro de Investigacion en Biotecnologia, Autonoma Universidad del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, Col. Chamilpa, Cuernavaca, Mor. CP 62209, Mexico.

*Corresponding Authors E-mail: aokoh@ufh.ac.za.

Accepted 6 December, 2006.

The irrepressible quest for a cheap source of energy to meet the extensive global industrialization demand has expanded the frontiers of petroleum hydrocarbon exploration. These exploration activities amongst others often result in pollution of the environment, thus creating serious imbalance in the biotic and abiotic regimes of the ecosystem. Several remediation alternatives have been in use for the restoration of petroleum hydrocarbon polluted systems. In this paper, we present an overview of bioremediation alternative vis-à-vis other cleanup methods and its adaptations in various polluted systems.

Key words: Crude oil, pollution, environment, bioremediation.