Fingerprinting hydrocarbons in a crude oil contaminated agricultural soil and its bioremediation employing bacterial consortium

ABSTRACT

Consistent fossil fuel exploration and production leads to environment deterioration. Oil spills make agricultural soil infertile and also pollute groundwater which becomes harmful to humans and other organisms. In this study, we explored ecofriendly method for biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons from crude oil contaminated agricultural soil using hydrocarbon utilizing bacterial consortium (HUBC). Soil microcosms were designed to study degradation efficiency of HUBC for petroleum hydrocarbons present in crude oil. Residual petroleum hydrocarbons were measured using gas chromatography. Bioaugmentation studies (with HUBC) showed 83.50±2.05% degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons contaminants at 60 days in crude oil contaminated agricultural soil microcosm. The hydrocarbon utilizing bacterial count in bioaugmented soil microcosm was noted to be 0.60±0.02×108 CFU/g at 60 days i.e. at the end of experiment, which was noted to be 4.90±0.07×107 CFU/g at the start of experiment. Ability of the consortium (used in the presented study) to survive in artificially contaminated agricultural soil microcosm and to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons effectively in soil microcosm conditions shows its potential to be used for bioremediation of agricultural soil and its restoration.