Suresh Deka
Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST), India
Title: Degradation of Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) by biosurfactant producing bacterial strains
Biography
Biography: Suresh Deka
Abstract
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are toxic compounds. Due to leakage or spillage of crude oil, these toxic hydrocarbons may contaminate the sites. These compounds are low water soluble, as a result, they are not easily degraded by microorganisms. So, remediation of PAHs through seeding only hydrocarbon degrading microorganisms take more time. Microbial produced surfactant can enhance the bioavailability of these hydrophobic compounds for bioremediation. Keeping this in mind, an investigation was carried out to develop an efficient consortium of bisurfactant producing bacterial strains, that could be used for remediation of PAH from contaminated sites. For that, a total of twenty three bacterial strains were isolated from hydrocarbon contaminated soil. The ability of degradation of hydrocarbon of the isolates were tested individually and five of them were selected for further study on the basis of utilization of hydrocarbon. Among these five isolates, three were found biosurfactant producer and two non- producer. Ten different consortia were designed involving best hydrocarbon utilizing strains taking both biosurfactant producers and non-producers. The consortium consisting bacterial strain Bacillus pumilusKS2 and Bacillus cereus R2 (identified by 16s rDNA sequencing) had shown best result in degradation of crude oil. The consortium could degrade 82.15% of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) from the crude oil in five weeks of incubation time. The consortium could degrade different PAHs like Naphthalene,Fluorene, Phenanthrene, Anthracene, 3.beta.-Myristoylolean-12-en-1, 1H-Indene, 2, 3-dihydro-1, 1, 5, 6 and their derivatives which indicates the prospective of the consortium to be used for remediation of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated sites