Bioremediation and Petroleum Hydrocarbons

Introduction Oil spill of petroleum hydrocarbons is threatening marine organisms around the world. Animals are coated with oil and ingest pollutants while attempting to clean themselves. The toxic effects of oil often result in the death of most of the surrounding life. Although it is possible to remove contaminants by physical means, it does not handle dangerous petroleum hydrocarbons. Bioremediation provides an effective solution for purifying oil spills. Pollutants are biodegraded by complete mineralization of organic pollutants and convert toxic waste into harmless products such as carbon dioxide, water, inorganic compounds, cellular proteins (Das and Chandran 2010).

The ability of bacteria to degrade various organic compounds is important and has been used for waste disposal and bioremediation. Bacteria capable of digesting hydrocarbons in petroleum are often used to wipe out oil spills. After the oil spill of Exxon Valdez in 1989, fertilizer was added to several beaches of Prince William Sound to promote the growth of these natural bacteria. These efforts are very effective for beaches where the oil layer is not too thick. Bacteria are also used for bioremediation of industrial hazardous waste. In the chemical industry, bacteria are the most important in the production of enantiomerically pure chemicals used as pharmaceuticals or pesticides.

The chemical structure of petroleum is heterogeneous and consists of hydrocarbon chains of different lengths. Thus, petroleum can be brought to refineries, hydrocarbon chemistries are separated by distillation and processed by other chemical processes for various purposes. The total cost per factory is about 9 billion dollars. Because petroleum is a naturally occurring substance, existence in the environment is not necessarily caused by human factors such as accidents and daily activities (seismic exploration, excavation, mining, refining, burning). Leakage and tar pits are examples of areas where oil is affected without involvement of others. Regardless of the source, the impact of oil release on the environment is similar.