Isolation of hydrocarbon degrading bacteria from soils contaminated with crude oil spills.

A feasibility study was conducted to evaluate the capability of bacterial strains to degrade crude oil under in vitro conditions. Pseudomonas strain PS-I could degrade alkanes (70.69%) and aromatics (45.37%). Alkanes and aromatic fractions separated by column chromatography were analyzed by gas chromatography. In case of Pseudomonas strain PS-I, nC17/Pr, nC18/Ph ratios decreased from 2.5100 to 0.1232 and from 7.2886 to 0.3853, respectively. It was concluded that out of the isolated strains, Pseudomonas strain PS-I, PS-II and PS-III were comparatively better and potent hydrocarbon degraders. Pseudomonas strain PS-I was almost comparable with standard strain of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus in crude oil biodegradation potency.