EFFECTIVENESS OF CHETOCEROS CALCITRANS AND SKELETONEMA COSTATUM IN DEGRADING DIESEL FUEL ON LABORATORY-SCALE TESTBambang Budi Sasmito, Bambang Budi Sasmito Dwi Candra Pratiwi, Rarasrum Dyah Kasitowati, Titik Dwi Sulistyati and Dian Fitri NuryaniAbstract Our current marine waters are very vulnerable to environmental pollution mainly due to diesel fuel waste from fishing boats or other domestic activities. Degradation of pollutants in aquatic waters can be done using physical, chemical, or biological methods. Scientists often use chemical methods because of their relatively faster use, but this method will produce new waste not environmentally friendly. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of microalgae as an environmentally friendly biological method in degrading diesel fuel; species of microalgae used was Skeletonema costatum and Chetoceros calcitrans species. The t-test results show no significant difference in environmental parameters for both species to grow. The growth of Skeletonema costatum and Chaetoceros calcitrans overall increased for 7 days. The R2 (R-Square) value of the Chaetoceros calcitrans species (0.9495) was very close to 1 when compared to the value of R2 of Skeletonema costatum (0.8115). The R-Square values shows that the four treatments (control, the addition of 5 mL, 10 mL, and 20 mL diesel fuel) are more applicable to the Chaetoceros calcitrans species. Treatment differences (oil concentrations) and species differences gave a significantly different effect on percentage of degradation at 95% and 90% confidence intervals respectively. |