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Rate of biodegradation of
crude oil by microorganisms isolated from oil sludge
environment
M. A. Ekpo* and U. S.
Udofia
Department of Microbiology, University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa
Ibom State, Nigeria.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
emacopron@yahoo.com.
Accepted
7 November, 2008 |
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The rate of
biodegradation of crude oil by micro-organisms isolated from
crude oil sludge environment in Eket, Akwa Ibom State of
Nigeria was studied. Mineral salt medium supplemented with
crude oil was used and three most abundant species isolated
from a crude oil sludged soil - Micrococcus varians,
Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa
were selected for the degradation test. The microbial counts
used as index during the degradation process for each of the
organisms ranged from 1.8 to 6.4 x105 cfu/g for
P. aeruginosa, 1.5 to 5.2 x 105 cfu/g for
M. varians and 1.3 to 4.7 x 105 cfu/g for
B. subtilis. P. aeruginosa degraded 97.2% of
the oil introduced into the medium followed by M. varians
with 85.7% degradation. The least was B. substilis
with 72.3% degradation of the oil. P. aeruginosa was
found to have the highest rate of degradation.
Key
words:
Biodegradation, crude oil, hydrocarbonclastic-organisms,
sludge-environment, bioremediation. |
