ISOLATION OF POTENT HYDROCARBON DEGRADING MICRO-ORGANISMS AND ITS APPLICATION IN BIOREMEDIATION

Objective: Oil spillage has become a global environmental problem as its constituents are toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic. Natural bioremediation is the only eco-friendly solution to resist its devastating environmental and economic damage. Microbes are used to change harmful substances to non-toxic substances. The current work focuses on the performance of different bacterial species in degrading the oil components like benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)s.Methods: Sample was collected from different areas affected by the oil spill in Mumbai that is from the shore of Juhu, Dadar and Manori in form of tar balls and was enriched and isolated on Bushnell and Hass's media containing 1% crude oil as a sole source of carbon. The potent isolates were then identified by standard biochemical tests referring to Bergey's Manual.Results: Two partially identified strains were Pseudomonas flavescens and Bacillus sp. biofilms of Pseudomonas spp. was prepared on glass matrix to determine its oil degrading efficiency. An indigenous consortium was developed by the assembly of seven isolates of oil-degrading bacteria.Conclusion: The developed consortium was able to degrade crude oil completely within 4 d. The obtained isolates seemed to have the potential for bioremediation of oil contaminated soil and tar balls which was justified by setting up of a bioreactor