DEGRADATION OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS USING BACTERIAL ISOLATE FROM THE CONTAMINATED SOIL AND WHITE ROT FUNGUS PLEUROTUS OSTREATUS

The use of microbial consortia composed of bacteria and fungi presents higher rates of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) degradation and is, therefore, essential for the remediation of contaminated soils. A microbial consortium compound comprising Ochrobactrum intermedium and white rot fungus Pleurotus ostreatus was found to be capable of degrading PAHs of crude oil in soil. This research studied the degradation capacity of a consortium composed of O. intermedium and P. ostreatus and the degradation capacity of both the bacteria and the fungus individually. The soil was artificially contaminated using two crude oil concentrations corresponding to 86,000 and 172,000 mg kg(-1). The concentrations of PAHs extracted from the two concentrations of crude oil were 138.16 and 268.03 mg kg(-1), respectively, with respective extraction resins of 78.3 and 73.5%. In total, the biodegradation of 10 PAHs were studied. Fluoranthene, indene[1,2,3-cd]pyrene and benzo[g, h, i]perylene were completely removed by the consortium after 50, 80 and 50 d of incubation, respectively. The rate at which anthracene, pyrene, chrysene and benzo[a]anthracene biodegraded in the presence of the microbial consortium were 96%, 86%, 98% and 98%, respectively, after 110 d of incubation. In this study, higher rates of degradation were obtained with the consortium than when the components were used individually, showing that consortia composed of fungi and bacteria are an efficient technology for degrading xenobiotics, as is the case with PAHs.