A microcosm study evaluating inoculums addition of mixed bacterial consortium to stimulate in-situ bioremediation of crude oil contaminated soil was conducted. In feasibility study, out of five treatments the application of bacterial consortium, nutrients and environmental factors resulted in 79.16% removal of TPH in 60 days, compared to 30.24% removal of TPH carried out by indigenous microflora. Gas chromatograms of original spilled oil and bioremediated oil by the addition of developed consortium shows that Pr/Ph ratio decreased progressively from 2.358 to 1.626. The results showed that the ratio of di/tri aromatics decreased from initial 0.63 to 0.25 with progressive treatment of nutrient addition, as nutrient + tilling, nutrient + tilling + microbial seeding. Similar effect was observed in di/di + tri aromatics ratios which also decreased 0.31 to 0.20 by bioaugmentation only.

Keywords : Hydrocarbons; Pseudomonas ; Biodegradation; Gas Chromatogram.

© 2010 JSR Publications. ISSN: 2070-0237 (Print); 2070-0245 (Online). All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.3329/jsr.v2i1.2601 J. Sci. Res. 2 (1), 127-137 (2010)