Chromatographic and spectroscopic studies on biodegradation of residual waste oil from a former refinery site

Abstract

The measurements and analyses were performed during bacterial degradation of a waste oil mixture from the former refinery site Pintsch GmbH i.L. in Hanau, Germany¹. The biodegradation was carried out in aerated liquid soil‐free laboratory batch cultures or in the half‐technical scale, the pile technique.

¹³C‐NMR, IR and GC methods showed that (compared to degradation in liquid cultures) the bacterial degradation in piles leads to higher microbiological degradation of the recalcitrant, chromatographically unresolved hydrocarbons remaining in the waste oil.

After deconvolution of the complex ¹³C‐NMR spectra of both degraded oils, it was found that the relations between the dominant hydrocarbon structures, A, B and C, determined in the oil:

remain the same if the chromatographically unresolved hydrocarbons are further degraded by bacteria. Therefore, none of the residual hydrocarbon structures after microbiological treatment are degraded in further improved biodegradation.

Key words:

• waste oil
• biodegradation of oil
• oil contamination
• refinery site