Innovative Strategy for Hydrocarbons Bioremediation Through Environmental Control

Abstract

Some of the environmental problems that have been posing challenges in the environment at the moment include hydrocarbon pollution, which comes from the pollution of diesel and motor oils and needs efficient methods of remediation. In an attempt to investigate the effects of temperature and pH on the growth and hydrocarbon degradation efficiency of five strains of bacteria, namely Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, Rhodococcus ruber, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Mycobacterium gilvum, this research focuses on bioremediation using environmental manipulations. The experiments are carried out using diesel-motor oil blends (1:1 and 3:3), where the bacteria's performance is assessed through growth evaluation and GC profile of TPH in various carbon fractions (C7–C32). As can be seen from the above results, the use of mesophilic temperatures (30 – 35°C) greatly boosts bacterial development and hydrocarbon degradation. In addition, elevated temperature (40°C) negatively impacts the process due to microbial stress. Analogously, the best results were achieved at neutral and slightly alkaline conditions (pH 7-8). Acidity (pH 6) was found to inhibit microbial activities. As regards strain performance, the highest biodegradation effectiveness showed Rhodococcus ruber and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Thus, the current research clearly illustrates that the optimization of environmental factors considerably increases the hydrocarbon bioremediation efficiency.