Comparative Study of Microbial Activities and Biodegradation-Abilities of Undefined Consortium in Some Hydrocarbon Contaminated Sites in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

Abstract

The microbial activities and the biodegradation-abilities of undefined consortium in contami-nated soils in the Niger Delta of Nigeria were studied. The Respirametry technique was adopted to evaluate the microbial activities while the soils were incubated with 2% () ν ν crude oil in mine-ral salt medium at 37˚C in three stages of two weeks each in a shake flask. At the end of the last phase, components of the crude oil degraded by the undefined consortium in the soils were identi-fied with the gas chromatographic techniques. The consortia of the different samples studied showed different degree of capacities on the crude oil, removing a large number of components of the crude oil, making the areas potentially suitable for in-situ bioremediation.