Effects of Temperature and Crude Oil Composition on Petroleum Biodegradation

• Published in: Applied Microbiology
• Main Author: Atlas, R. M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Society for Microbiology 1975
• Subjects: General Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics; General Immunology and Microbiology; General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; General Medicine; Arctic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/am.30.3.396-403.1975; https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/am.30.3.396-403.1975

The biodegradability of seven different crude oils was found to be highly dependent on their composition and on incubation temperature. At 20 C lighter oils had greater abiotic losses and were more susceptible to biodegradation than heavier oils. These light crude oils, however, possessed toxic volatile components which evaporated only slowly and inhibited microbial degradation of these oils at 10 C. No volatile toxic fraction was associated with the heavier oils tested. Rates of oil mineralization for the heavier oils were significantly lower at 20 C than for the lighter ones. Similar relative degradation rates were found with a mixed microbial community, using CO 2 evolution as the measure, and with a Pseudomonas isolate from the Arctic, using O 2 consumption as the measure. The paraffinic, aromatic, and asphaltic fractions were subject to biodegradation. Some preference was shown for paraffin degradation, especially at low temperatures. Branched paraffins, such as pristane, were degraded at both 10 and 20 C. At best, a 20% residue still remained after 42 days of incubation. Oil residues generally had a lower relative percentage of paraffins and higher percentage of asphaltics than fresh or weathered oil.