Treatment of petroleum refinery sludge by petroleum degrading bacterium Stenotrophomonas pavanii IRB19 as an efficient novel technology

Abstract

Petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) in petroleum refinery sludge (PRS) are the most adverse components because of their toxic nature, which are harmful to human health and the aquatic ecosystem. This study aimed to identify and characterize an indigenous bacterium isolated from PRS of Indian oil corporation ltd. (IOCL), Haldia, India, and evaluate its performance for biodegradation of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) of PRS. The bacterium molecularly characterized as Stenotrophomonas sp. IRB19 by 16S rRNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The strain IRB19 showed a significant ability to utilize four different oils (kerosene, diesel, petrol and hexadecane) in-vitro. IRB19 could able to degrade up to 65 ± 2.4% of TPH in 28 d of incubation. Solvent extraction study showed that PRS contain 180.57 ± 3.44 g kg⁻¹ of TPH and maltene fraction composed of aliphatic, aromatics and polar components of 52 ± 4, 39 ± 2 and 9 ± 1%, respectively. The TPH degradation best fitted for the Gompertz model and followed the first-order kinetics having the rate constant (k) and half-life period (t_1/2) of 0.036 d⁻¹ and 19 d, respectively. Results of this study verified the suitability of the novel strain IRB19 for the biodegradation of PHCs.

Keywords:

• Environmental management
• Stenotrophomonas pavanii
• petroleum refinery sludge
• total petroleum hydrocarbon
• biodegradation
• health hazards

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Mr. Vinod Kumar Mandiwal, Process Engineer (Planning & Co-ordination), Technical Services Department, Haldia Refinery for providing the petroleum sludge for research purpose. The authors are thankful to the Department of Chemical Engineering and Department of Biotechnology and Department of Continuing Education Program, IIT Kharagpur, India for providing the necessary research facilities.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.