Bio-Enhancement of Petroleum Hydrocarbon Polluted Soil Using Newly Isolated Bacteria

ABSTRACT

Despite the important role of petroleum hydrocarbons as energy resources, contamination of petroleum hydrocarbons and their products has caused significant harm to the environment, and hence increasing attention has been paid toward remediation of these contaminants. A study was carried out on bioremediation of soil contaminated with diesel fuel (DF) and waste lubricating oil (WLO) using the bacterial strain Bacillus salmalaya 139SI, isolated in Malaysia and identified by 16s RNA sequencing. The colony count was examined, and the seed germination toxicity test was carried out using seeds of Vigna sesquipedalis. For WLO-polluted soil, a maximum total petroleum hydrocarbon degradation of 89% was recorded on day 50 in the soil treated with 20% B. salmalaya, whereas 79% was recorded on day 60 in the soil treated with 20% B. salmalaya for DF-polluted soil. The positive correlation between increasing bacterial count and petroleum hydrocarbon degradation percentage suggested a prominent contribution of biosurfactant in degrading the WLO and DF present in the soil. The seed germination toxicity test performed using V. sesquipedalis seed recorded 80% germination on treatments with 20% B. salmalaya in soil polluted with both WLO and DF. The results obtained from this work indicated the potential applicability of B. salmalaya strain 139SI in bioremediation of soil polluted with petroleum hydrocarbons.

KEYWORDS:

• Bacillus salmalaya strain 139SI
• biotreatment
• diesel fuel
• lubricating oil
• hydrocarbon

Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful to the chief editor and the reviewers of this article for their valuable contribution.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Malaya Research Program (UMRP) under Grant RP023A-14AFR.