Isolation and characterization of hydrocarbon degrading bacteria from oil contaminated soil – Potential for biosurfactant assisted bioremediation

Crude petroleum oil and its derivatives are harmful environmental pollutants. Therefore, development of a remediation technology is essential for cleaning up polluted sites. Remediation using microorganisms is recognized as one of the most effective, eco-friendly and cost effective method. The study is focused on isolating hydrocarbon degrading bacteria from oil contaminated soil, extracting and characterizing biosurfactant and to test their potential as an efficient bioremediation agent. In this study seven different methods were used to screen bacterial isolates for biosurfactant production and it was found that drop collapse and oil spreading methods are reliable methods to screen large number of samples for biosurfactant production. The isolates were characterized using morphological and biochemical assays. This study concludes the ability of bacteria isolated from oil contaminated soil to grow on enriched media containing hydrocarbons with the capacity of oil degradation and biosurfactant production.