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Marine Oil-Degrading Microorganisms and Biodegradation Process of Petroleum Hydrocarbon in Marine Environments: A Review

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Abstract

Due to the toxicity of petroleum compounds, the increasing accidents of marine oil spills/leakages have had a significant impact on our environment. Recently, different remedial techniques for the treatment of marine petroleum pollution have been proposed, such as bioremediation, controlled burning, skimming, and solidifying. (Hedlund and Staley in Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 51:61–66, 2001). This review introduces an important remedial method for marine oil pollution treatment—bioremediation technique—which is considered as a reliable, efficient, cost-effective, and eco-friendly method. First, the necessity of bioremediation for marine oil pollution was discussed. Second, this paper discussed the species of oil-degrading microorganisms, degradation pathways and mechanisms, the degradation rate and reaction model, and the factors affecting the degradation. Last, several suggestions for the further research in the field of marine oil spill bioremediation were proposed.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51408347 and 21307149), the Key Laboratory of Marine Spill Oil Identification and Damage Assessment Technology, SOA (Grant No. 201407), Scientific Research Foundation of Shandong University of Science and Technology for Recruited Talents (Grant No. 2014RCJJ018), and the excellent young and middle-aged scientists of Shandong Province (Grant No. BS2013NJ019). Liping Wang was supported by NHMRC Grant (1094606).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, Shandong, China

    Jianliang Xue & Yanan Wu

  2. Laboratory Technician, Citic Pacific Mining Management Pty Ltd, Karratha, WA, 6714, Australia

    Yang Yu

  3. Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China

    Yu Bai

  4. Sansom Institute for Health Research, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia

    Liping Wang

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  1. Jianliang Xue
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  2. Yang Yu
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  4. Liping Wang
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  5. Yanan Wu
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Correspondence to Liping Wang.

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Xue, J., Yu, Y., Bai, Y. et al. Marine Oil-Degrading Microorganisms and Biodegradation Process of Petroleum Hydrocarbon in Marine Environments: A Review. Curr Microbiol 71, 220–228 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-015-0825-7

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