Hydrocarbon fuels are one of the most common global environmental pollutants which cannot be easily degraded owing to their hydrophobic nature. The present study involves the degradation of hydrocarbons by biosurfactant producing bacterial consortia. In this study, results showed 73.66% and 75.80% degradation of 2% mobil oil hydrocarbons in contaminated soil by biosurfactant producing bacterial consortium with wheat (Triticum aestivum) and mustard (Brassica juncea) crops, respectively. Therefore, it indicates that the developed bacterial consortium are capable for the effective degradation of mobil oil hydrocarbons in wheat and mustard rhizosphere and hence can be employed effectively for the degradation of mobil oil hydrocarbons in oil contaminated soils. Phthalate esters formed during the degradation can be used for industrial applications like PVC softening. Hydrocarbons are the hydrophobic organic chemicals having toxicity, persistence and negative influence on living organisms and account for 90-95% or more of the total contaminant mass, exhibit limited solubility in groundwater and tend to partition to the soil matrix. The soil pollution by hydrocarbons like mobil oil is mainly responsible for the changes in physical and chemical properties of soils which result in adverse effects on plant growth parameters. Moreover, bioremediation is an efficient, economic and versatile alternative to the physico-chemical treatment methods mainly with bacterial consortia or individually
Last date updated on May, 2025