Bioremediation of petroleum sludge from the Exxon Mobil petroleum refining plant at Kerteh, Malaysia / Noor Fazreen Dzulkafli

Dzulkafli, Noor Fazreen (2007) Bioremediation of petroleum sludge from the Exxon Mobil petroleum refining plant at Kerteh, Malaysia / Noor Fazreen Dzulkafli. Masters thesis, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM).

Abstract

Petroleum refineries generate huge volumes of petroleum sludge during the process of refining crude oil. It is well known that petroleum sludge contains toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic compounds that constitute hazard to human and the environme nt. Applications of bioremediation in not a new method for treatment of petroleum hydrocarbons contaminations. With advances in biotechnology, bioremediation has become one of the most rapidly developing fields of environmental restoration. Petroleum hydrocarbons can be degraded by microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and yeast. However, bacteria play the central role in hydrocarbon degradat ion. The driving force for petroleum biodegradation is the ability of microorganisms to utilize hydrocarbons to satisfy their cell growth and energy needs. Studies on the microbial processes to degrade hydrocarbon from several countries in arid region to date have established information on the best consortium of microorganisms to be used. However, very few reports are available on studies in tropical countries like Malaysia. Thus, this study investigates microbial species present in petroleum sludge that are capable of degrading hydrocarbon. Hydrocarbons used in this study include low chain hydrocarbon; n-decane, tetradecane, pentadecane and do-decane and also PAH namely; phenathrane, anthracene and dibenzothiophene. A series of experiments were conducted to enrich and isolates bacteria strains that are capable of degrading the hydrocarbons. These were followed by hydrocarbon degradation test and identification of bacteria strains that are capable of degrading hydrocarbon. Hydrocarbon degradation tests were done by using microtiter plate technique with INT as the indicator. A total of 53 strains capab le of degrading hydrocarbon were successfully isolated. Three of best strains were selected to be identified by using biochemical test. The best active strains were selected base on their ability to degrade PAH compound namely; phenathrane, anthracene and dibenzothiophene. These three strains were identified as Clavibacter michiganesis ss insidiosus, Brevibacterium otitidis and Rhodococcus rhodochrus.

Metadata

Item Type: Thesis (Masters)
Creators:
Creators
Email / ID Num.
Dzulkafli, Noor Fazreen
2006651644
Contributors:
Contribution
Name
Email / ID Num.
Thesis advisor
Abdul Talib, Suhaimi
UNSPECIFIED
Thesis advisor
Ramasamy, Kalavathy
UNSPECIFIED
Subjects: T Technology > TP Chemical technology > Petroleum refining. Petroleum products
Divisions: Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam > Faculty of Civil Engineering
Programme: Master Science Civil Engineering (Environmental)
Keywords: Bioremediation, biodegradation hydrocarbon degrading bacteria, microtiter plate technique, petroleum sludge, poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
Date: 2007
URI: https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/27210
Edit Item
Edit Item

Download

[thumbnail of 27210.pdf] Text
27210.pdf

Download (1MB)

Digital Copy

Digital (fulltext) is available at:

Physical Copy

Physical status and holdings:
Item Status:

ID Number

27210

Indexing

Statistic

Statistic details