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Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Petroleum Oil Industry Activities: Effect on Human Health and Their Biodegradation

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Waste Bioremediation

Part of the book series: Energy, Environment, and Sustainability ((ENENSU))

Abstract

Nowadays pollution control and abatement are critical issues faced by environmental scientists due to rapid industrialization. Petroleum industry is one of the major industries which release hydrocarbon pollutants in environment. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are the priority pollutants which are released into the environment by exploration activities of petroleum industries. The indiscriminate accumulation of petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants can be hazardous to the human life and aquatic biota. Due to toxicity of these pollutants, establishing efficient and environment-friendly method to degrade and detoxify these pollutants is an important research challenge. Various physiochemical methods are applied all over the world to remediate of petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants. Bioremediation technique has been developed for treatment of crude oil pollutants using biological agents like bacteria, fungi, algae, and plants. Applications of certain microorganisms have gained importance in the field of applied environmental microbiology. The application of microbes to degrade pollutants is getting attention due to its environmental and economic benefits. They can be used to change bioavailability and toxicity of petroleum hydrocarbons present in polluted soil and aqueous environment. This paper explores hydrocarbons present in petroleum crude. The effect of petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants on human health and environment is also discussed. This chapter also explains microbial degradation of these pollutants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Sector-10A, Gandhinagar, 382010, Gujarat, India

    Sunita J. Varjani

  2. School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, University and Institute of Advanced Research, Gandhinagar, 382007, Gujarat, India

    Rutu R. Joshi

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, SSN College of Engineering, Chennai, 603110, India

    P. Senthil Kumar

  4. GSFC University, Fertilizernagar, Vadodara, 391750, Gujarat, India

    Vijay Kumar Srivastava

  5. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, 826004, India

    Vipin Kumar & Chiranjib Banerjee

  6. Department of Biotechnology, Anna Bio Research Foundation, Arunai Engineering College, Tiruvannamalai, 606603, Tamil Nadu, India

    R. Praveen Kumar

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  1. Sunita J. Varjani
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  3. P. Senthil Kumar
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  5. Vipin Kumar
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  7. R. Praveen Kumar
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Correspondence to Sunita J. Varjani .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India

    Sunita J. Varjani

  2. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

    Edgard Gnansounou

  3. Department of Biotechnology, St. Joseph’s College of Engineering, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

    Baskar Gurunathan

  4. Department of Environmental Science, School of Earth and Environmental Science, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Deepak Pant

  5. Department of Bioprocess & Polymer Engineering, Institute of Bioproduct Development, University of Technology Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

    Zainul Akmar Zakaria

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Varjani, S.J. et al. (2018). Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Petroleum Oil Industry Activities: Effect on Human Health and Their Biodegradation. In: Varjani, S., Gnansounou, E., Gurunathan, B., Pant, D., Zakaria, Z. (eds) Waste Bioremediation. Energy, Environment, and Sustainability. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7413-4_9

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