Kinetics of crude oil degradation by an indigenous mixed culture isolated from palm oil mill effluent

摘要

Objectives: To investigate the microbial growth kinetics and degradation of crude oil (CO) by mixed cultures isolated from palm oil mill effluent (POME). Methods/Statistical analysis: The scanning electron microscope was employed to examine the surface morphology of POME and the CO contaminated soil. Microbial count using the total viable count (TVC), mold, and coliform counts were investigated at different levels of CO contamination. Findings: The TVCs at 20, 40, and 60 mg/L of CO were 7.3x107 CFU/g, 6.8x106 CFU/g and 7.2 x 106 CFU/g, respectively. The concentration of the CO was utilized at 20 mg/L indicating that this concentration did not inhibit microbial growth. Based on the correlation coefficient (R2 ) values obtained for the four growth kinetic models, the Haldane model with R2 of 0.97 gave the best fit. Application/Improvements: Finally, the one way ANOVA and Tukey's honest significant difference (HSD) indicated the statistically significant effect (P 0.05) of the initial CO concentration on microbial growth.