BIODEGRADATION OF PETROLEUM HYDROCARBON BY TWO ASPERGILLUS SPP. AND TWO PENICILLIUM SPP. ISOLATED FROM THE CONTAMINATED SOIL AND WATER OF SHIP BREAKING YARDKARTIK DHAR, SHOMA DUTTA AND M.N. ANWARAbstract Petroleum hydrocarbon pollution caused by ship breaking activities around Bhatiari coast of Chittagong is one of the major environmental problem in Bangladesh. Currently available chemical and mechanical methods have limited effectiveness and expensive. Bioremediation of petroleum contamination by using fungi is cost-effective, environment friendly and easy to operate. Two Aspergillus spp. (Aspergillus candidus and Aspergillus fumigatus); and two Penicillium spp. (Penicillium fuscum and Penicillium waksmani) were isolated from the oil contaminated sites of Bhatiari and characterized. All the four species have the ability of complete decolourization of Redox reagent (2,6-dinitrophenol indophenol). Marked cultural and morphological differences were observed when the isolates were grown on different hydrocarbon source containing media. The isolates had been found to show biodegradation of kerosene, diesel and octane with in defined period of time. Greasy spot test was used for primary indication of degradation. For more specific estimation of degradation rate spectrophotometric method was carried out. The isolate Penicillium waksmani showed highest percent (60.5% and 59.85%) degradation of kerosene and diesel. Aspergillus fumigatus was found to degrade highest percent (61.29%) of octane. These results suggest that the fungal population could be used for bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon pollution.
Enter your contact information below to receive full paper.
|