A laboratory study was conducted with the aim of evaluating and optimizing the environmental parameters of "landfarming", i.e., the disposal by biodegradation in soil of oily sludges generated in the refining of crude oil and related operations. Oil sludge biodegradation was monitored by CO2 evolution and by periodic analysis of residual hydrocarbons. The parameters studied were soil moisture, ...

Crude oil is a complex mixture mainly composed of various saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons. Whereas degradation of hydrocarbons by oxygen-respiring microorganisms has been known for nearly one century, utilization of hydrocarbons under anoxic conditions has been investigated only during the past ten years. The present paper summarizes investigations into the anaerobic degradability of crude ...

Reliable delineation of aquatic toxicity cut-offs for poorly soluble hydrocarbons is lacking. In this study, vapor and passive dosing methods were applied in limit tests with algae daphnids to evaluate the presence or absence chronic effects at exposures corresponding water solubility representative from five structural classes: branched alkanes, mono, di, polynaphthenic (cyclic) alkanes monoar...

Petroleum based products are the major source of energy for industries and daily life. Leaks and accidental spills occur regularly during the exploration, production, refining, transport, and storage of petroleum and petroleum products. In the present study we isolated the bacteria from diesel contaminated soil and screened them for diesel biodegradation capacity. One monoculture isolate identi...

The effects of petroleum products (kerosene, diesel, engine oil and petrol) treatment of soil at various sublethal concentrations (0.0%, 0.1%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0%) on oxidative stress markers (lipid peroxidation, superoxide dismutase activity, catalase activity and xanthine oxidase) were studied in cowpea and maize seedlings. The results indicated that the petroleum products caused...

The studies focused on the effect of the addition of low concentrations of glucose - a substrate that is readily subject to microbiological degradation, on the rate of biodegradation of petroleum products. Glucose in concentration 1% was introduced into mineral medium containing 3% crude oil, with or without bacterial inoculum. The rate of degradation of crude oil in the individual cultures was...

Residual fuel oil spilled into the sea from the Eshkol power station on 8 February, 1998 contaminated about 9 km of the foreshore north of the Ashdod harbour. A study of the aliphatic, polycyclic alkane and polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) composition of the spilled oil shows rapid weathering in the early stages followed by gradual slowdown after about three months. Weathering of isoprenoids and ...

The methanogenic biodegradation of crude oil is an important process occurring in petroleum reservoirs and other oil-containing environments such as contaminated aquifers. In this process, syntrophic bacteria degrade hydrocarbon substrates to products such as acetate, and/or H2 and CO2 that are then used by methanogens to produce methane in a thermodynamically dependent manner. We enriched a me...

Biosurfactant activity and naphthalene degradation by a new strain identified as Bacillus cereus 28BN were studied. The strain grew well and produced effective biosurfactants in the presence of n-alkanes, naphthalene, crude oil and vegetable oils. The biosurfactants were detected by the surface tension lowering of the medium, thin layer chromatography and infrared spectra analysis. With (2%) na...