Clean-up of the crude oil contaminated marine sediments through biocarrier-mediated bioaugmentation

Abstract

This study was carried out to develop an effective biocarrier-mediated bioaugmentation technology which will be useful for remediation of the crude oil-contaminated marine sediments. Enrichment of several microbial communities was made from several oil-polluted seashore sites and the two distinctively functional consortia have been successfully selected. These two consortia were grown together and used to manufacture the microbial agents for bioaugmentation of marine sediments polluted with crude oil. The most dominant species in the mixed culture was identified as Alcanivorax borkumensis based on pure culture and DGGE analysis. Bioaugmentation of oil-polluted marine sediments with the microbial agent MA-2 formulated using the mixed culture and biocarriers (activated carbon and minerals) was more effective, especially in combination with an oxygen producing (releasing) compound (ORC). Ninty percent of TPH was removed in the presence of ORC in 35 days while 74% in the absence of ORC. This indicated that the indigenous consortial degraders could be immobilized on the active carbon as a biocarrier to manufacture microbial agents and then effectively bioaugmented for remediation of the oil-polluted sediments. Copyright ? 2009, The Microbiological Society of Korea.