Evaluation of biological removal of anthracene by a Bacillus pumilus strain isolated from oil sediments of Imam Khomeini port

Abstract

Due to their toxicities, oil pollutions and its derivatives such as anthracene are one of the most important issues of environmental researches all over the world. Oil hydrocarbons in contaminated soils, sediments and water can be degraded by microorganisms. Removal of hydrocarbons from aqueous solutions is also possible using cultured bacteria. In this study, the anthracene bioremediation by Bacillus pumilus isolated from oil sediments of Imam Khomeini port, was investigated. This bacterium made no clear halo on blood agar medium and couldn’t disperse the mineral oil but created a halo with a diameter of 0.5 cm on the surface of crude oil. As a result, the bacterium was detected as a non-producing biosurfactant species. The optical density of this species in the sample containing 30 mg/l of anthracene finally reached to 0.086. Measurement of anthracene degradation by HPLC showed that %40.833 of mentioned hydrocarbon was removed after 5 days. Therefore, the results indicate that the isolated bacterium can probably behave the same in the natural environment and couid have the potential in bioremediation of this pollutant from environments.