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MICROBIAL DEGRADATION OF PETROLEUM HYDROCARBONS
Citation:
Westlake, D., F. Cook, AND A. Johnson. MICROBIAL DEGRADATION OF PETROLEUM HYDROCARBONS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/7-78/148.
Description:
The responses to Prudhoe Bay oil of the microbial populations present in water column, beach and sediment samples representative of the diverse marine shoreline environments found in the northern Puget Sound and Juan de Fuca areas were investigated under laboratory conditions. All sites studied yielded psychrotrophic Bacterial populations which, in the presence of added nitrogen and phosphorus, were able to bring about changes in the n-alkane components of Prudhoe Bay oil. Under laboratory conditions, apparently one-third of the weight of oil was lost by weathering, one-third lost by mineralization due to microbial activity and one-third left as a residue. No changes in Prudhoe Bay oil were observed with nitrogen and phosphorus being absent. Increasing the temperature of incubation resulted in a faster rate of disappearance of n-alkanes present in this oil. Samples from the water column environment showed the greatest seasonal variation in ability to modify Prudhoe Bay oil. Beach samples were quite constant in their ability to yield oil-degrading bacterial populations.