Bioremediation of Soil Contaminated with Petroleum Products Using Associated Microbes

The present study was undertaken to determine the bacterial species present in the petroleum contaminated soils of various workshops and to analyze the rate of utilization of petroleum products by the isolates. The soil samples were collected from 5 different mechanic shops located in Tiruchirappalli Corporation, Tamil nadu, India. Soil samples were plated on to nutrient agar, desoxycholate citrate agar, brilliant green agar, blood agar etc., to isolate the bacterial species from the soils contaminated with petroleum products. The bacterial isolates isolated from the soil contaminated with petroleum products were Pseudomonas sp., Micrococcus sp., Bacillus sp., Salmonella sp., E.coli sp., Klebsiella sp., Streptococcus sp. Among the varied bacterial isolates Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp., Streptococcus sp., Micrococcus sp., utilized all the test substrates as petrol, diesel and kerosene. The study demonstrates that Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp., Streptococcus sp., Micrococcus sp., could utilize petroleum products in the soil environment.