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Assessing the hydrocarbon degrading potential of indigenous bacteria isolated from crude oil tank bottom sludge and hydrocarbon-contaminated soil of Azzawiya oil refinery, Libya

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Abstract

The disposal of hazardous crude oil tank bottom sludge (COTBS) represents a significant waste management burden for South Mediterranean countries. Currently, the application of biological systems (bioremediation) for the treatment of COTBS is not widely practiced in these countries. Therefore, this study aims to develop the potential for bioremediation in this region through assessment of the abilities of indigenous hydrocarbonoclastic microorganisms from Libyan Hamada COTBS for the biotreatment of Libyan COTBS-contaminated environments. Bacteria were isolated from COTBS, COTBS-contaminated soil, treated COTBS-contaminated soil, and uncontaminated soil using Bushnell Hass medium amended with Hamada crude oil (1 %) as the main carbon source. Overall, 49 bacterial phenotypes were detected, and their individual abilities to degrade Hamada crude and selected COBTS fractions (naphthalene, phenanthrene, eicosane, octadecane and hexane) were evaluated using MT2 Biolog plates. Analyses using average well colour development showed that ~90 % of bacterial isolates were capable of utilizing representative aromatic fractions compared to 51 % utilization of representative aliphatics. Interestingly, more hydrocarbonoclastic isolates were obtained from treated contaminated soils (42.9 %) than from COTBS (26.5 %) or COTBS-contaminated (30.6 %) and control (0 %) soils. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) separated the isolates into two clusters with microorganisms in cluster 2 being 1.7- to 5-fold better at hydrocarbon degradation than those in cluster 1. Cluster 2 isolates belonged to the putative hydrocarbon-degrading genera; Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Arthrobacter and Brevundimonas with 57 % of these isolates being obtained from treated COTBS-contaminated soil. Overall, this study demonstrates that the potential for PAH degradation exists for the bioremediation of Hamada COTBS-contaminated environments in Libya. This represents the first report on the isolation of hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria from Libyan COTBS and COTBS-contaminated soil.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Libyan Ministry of Higher Education and Science Research. The authors thank the Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Azzawiya University, Libya, the management of Azzawiya oil refinery, Libya, and brothers Ali Mansour, Mohamad Ahfeda and Nassradden Souf for supplying soil and COTBS samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Applied Science, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, 3083, Australia

    Abdulatif A. Mansur, Eric M. Adetutu, Krishna K. Kadali, Paul D. Morrison, Yuana Nurulita & Andrew S. Ball

  2. Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Azawia University, Azawia, Libya

    Abdulatif A. Mansur

  3. Chemistry Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Riau, Pekanbaru, Riau, 28293, Indonesia

    Yuana Nurulita

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  1. Abdulatif A. Mansur
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  2. Eric M. Adetutu
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  3. Krishna K. Kadali
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Correspondence to Abdulatif A. Mansur.

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Responsible editor: Robert Duran

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Supplementary Fig. 1

Figure. 1a Chromatogram of soil extract obtained from treated COTBS contaminated soil. Figure. 1 b: Chromatogram of COTBS. (PPTX 363 kb)

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Mansur, A.A., Adetutu, E.M., Kadali, K.K. et al. Assessing the hydrocarbon degrading potential of indigenous bacteria isolated from crude oil tank bottom sludge and hydrocarbon-contaminated soil of Azzawiya oil refinery, Libya. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 10725–10735 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3018-1

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