BIODEGRADATION OF PETROLEUM HYDROCARBONS IN SALINE ENVIRONMENT BY CONSORTIUM OF PETROPHILIC BACTERIA WITH ADDITION OF SURFACTANTS

• Main Author: Christian Maranatha, Reynaldo
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/64814
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

One of the most common pollutants in the environment is oil spill, namely crude oil and other derivative products. One of the environments that will be vulnerable to pollution by oil spill is a saline environment. This is due to the process of exploration, exploitation, and transportation, one of which occurs in a saline environment. The toxic and persistent nature of the compounds in crude oil causes harm to the polluted ecosystem as well as to humans. Therefore, efforts are needed to reduce it, one of which is by biodegradation. Biodegradation is a process that utilizes microorganisms to remove petroleum compounds. One of the microorganisms commonly used for biodegradation is bacteria, which are referred to as petrophilic bacteria because they utilize petroleum as a carbon source. However, due to the low bioavailability and solubility of crude oil in the air, it is difficult for microorganisms to decompose its compounds. One way to increase the bioavailability and solubility of crude oil is by adding surfactant. This research is focused on the biodegradation ability by a consortium of petrophilic bacteria in a saline environment with and without the addition of surfactants. In this study, sophorolipid biosurfactants and biodispersants consist of a mixture of sophorolipid biosurfactants with coco glucoside. The efficiency of biodegradation with the addition of sophorolipid and biodispersant were 44% and 68.35% respectively, while the efficiency of biodegradation without the addition of surfactants was 52.13%. This shows that surfactant are able to increase the efficiency of biodegradation.