Hydrocarbon Degrading Microflora in a Tropical fuel-Contaminated Aquifer: Assessing the Feasibility of PAH Bioremediation
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Castro Gutiérrez, Víctor Manuel
Rodríguez Rodríguez, Carlos E.
Vargas Azofeifa, Ingrid
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Abstract
An aquifer located within a petroleum processing plant in Moín, Costa Rica, suffers hydrocarbon
pollution. This study aimed to determine the ability of indigenous microorganisms from this site to degrade
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to evaluate the feasibility of an eventual bioremediation process.
Aerobic conditions were found in the aquifer, while microbial analyses of the groundwater indicated the
presence of important hydrocarbon-degrading populations. Sixteen PAH-degrading strains were isolated with
the ability to grow on naphthalene (5 strains), phenanthrene (3), fluorene (6) and pyrene (2). Most of the
identified isolates belonged to the genus Pseudomonas, although, Comamonas, Sphingomonas
Stenotrophomonas and Delftia were also found. A mixture of selected strains was evaluated by its performance
of PAH degradation in soil-slurry systems, where efficiency of removal was naphthalene > fluorene >
phenanthrene > pyrene. This study is an initial approach to evaluate the feasibility of applying a bioremediation
process in the contaminated site.
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Keywords
GROUNDWATER, HYDROCARBONS, Bioremediation, Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, Bioslurry
Citation
https://ijer.ut.ac.ir/article_500.html