Microbial bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon: An overview

Abstract

Increased environmental toxicity due to extensive use of petroleumbased products gradually proves itself as a major issue of global concern. The release of petroleum products to the environment may cause catastrophic effect on aquatic habitats as well as barrens of fertile soil. Petroleum oil basically contains VOCs (volatile organic compounds), paraffin, gases (methane, ethane, propane, butane, etc.), metal ions (iron, nickel, copper, vanadium, etc.), etc., out of which VOCs may cause severe health problems such as lung, liver and kidney disease. Bioremediation is a process of treatment of contaminated environment with the help of living organisms to bring back to its natural state. Treatment of hydrocarboncontaminated sites may be accomplished with the help of indigenous microorganisms with diverse groups present in the soil by augmenting with necessary nutrients or by adding external necessary microorganisms. Further, as the petroleum hydrocarbon pollutant creates a stressful environment for growth, the bacterial species having potential to tolerate stress conditions would be an added advantage.