• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.265-272
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• 2017

Some bacteria with different mechanisms for hydrocarbon degradation were isolated from oil-contaminated soils in Korea. Isolate Acinetobacter calcoaceticus SL1 showed biosurfactant- producing activity in oil-spreading test, and it exhibited a good emulsifying activity of 43.6 and 54.5% for diesel oil and n-hexane, respectively. It also has high cell surface hydrophobicity which can make it easily attaches to hydrocarbons and degrade them. It degraded 100% of 1,000 mg/L of n-octadecane and naphthalene, respectively in 3 days, 72.3% of 1,000 mg/L diesel oil in 7 days and 78.0% of 10,000 mg/L diesel oil in oil-contaminated soil during 28 days. Isolated strains Bacillus amyloliquefaciens S10 and B. subtilis GO9 can produce biosurfactant and formed 6.34 and 2.5 cm diameter of clear zones, respectively in oil-spreading test. Surface tension of their culture supernatant reduced from 74.6 to 34.4 and 33.3 mN/m, respectively during incubation, and critical micelle concentrations of culture supernatants were 2.0 and 5.9%, respectively. Consortium of A. calcoaceticus SL1 and B. amyloliquefaciens S10 degraded 77.8% of 10,000 mg/L diesel oil in 3 days, which indicated more efficient oil degradation than that by A. calcoaceticus SL1 alone. If these bacteria were applied together as a consortium to oil-contaminated sites, they may show a high removal rate of petroleum hydrocarbons.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.356-363
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• 2011

The accidental releases of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) due to oil spills frequently ended up with soil and ground water pollution. TPH may be degraded through physicochemical and biological processes in the environment but with relatively slow rates. In this study an attempt has been made to develop an integrated chemical and biological treatment technology in order to establish an efficient and environment-friendly restoration technology for the TPH contaminated soils. A Fenton-like reaction was employed as a preceding chemical treatment process and a bioaugmentation process utilizing a diesel fuel degrader consortium was subsequently applied as a biological treatment process. An efficient chemical removal of TPH from soils occurred when the surfactant OP-10S (0.05%) and oxidants ($FeSO_4$ 4%, and $H_2O_2$ 5%) were used. Bioaugmentation of the degrader consortium into the soil slurry led to an increase in their population density at least two orders of magnitude, indicating a good survival of the degradative populations in the contaminated soils ($10^8-10^9$ CFU/g slurry). TPH removal efficiencies for the Fenton-treated soils increased by at least 57% when the soils were subjected to bioaugmentation of the degradative consortium. However, relatively lower TPH treatment efficiencies (79-83%) have been observed in the soils treated with Fenton and the degraders as opposed to the control (95%) that was left with no treatment. This appeared to be due to the presence of free radicals and other oxidative products generated during the Fenton treatment which might inhibit their degradation activity. The findings in this study will contribute to development of efficient bioremediation treatment technologies for TPH-contaminated soils and sediments in the environment.