Clean-up of used-oil films on water with immobilised microbial cultures.

Reticulated adsorbents were pre-inoculated with entrapped strains of Brevundimonas diminuta and Arthrobacter paraffineau, which were then contacted with spent mineral oil films. The abilities of these strains to grow on these spent oil films as their only source of carbon and energy were studied in an unsterilised tank in the laboratory. The pads, pre-inoculated with the cultures, were found to be effective in the removal of used oil films from the surface of the medium in the unsterilised tank, with Brevundimonas diminuta the more successful of the two cultures.