Abstract
When crude oil samples were shaken (200 rpm) in seawater samples from the Arabian Gulf at 30 °C, usually oil-gels were produced spontaneously leaving the water quite clear. The gelators could probably be based on cholesteryl derivatives. Microscopic examination of the established gels revealed nanofibrellar structures similar to those described by earlier workers for artificially synthesized gelators. Communities of bacteria including prosthetic and stalked members as well as oil-degrading bacteria were recorded in such gels. Chemical analysis revealed that 88.5% of the oil entrapped by gelation was biodegraded after 40 days at 30 °C. Individual bacterial species isolated from the oil-gels biodegraded in batch cultures between 17.8 and 33.3% of the oil added at time zero in 12 days at 30 °C. Gelation is a promising approach, not only for clean, physical removal of oil spilled in aquatic habitats, as so far suggested, but also in its effective microbiological biodegradation, as the current study revealed.
References
Feb 1, 1989·Applied and Environmental Microbiology·G Y JiS Silver
Feb 1, 1994·Journal of Bacteriology·C YunJ Smit
Sep 1, 1997·Nucleic Acids Research·S F AltschulD J Lipman
Oct 6, 1998·Applied and Environmental Microbiology·C M Santegoeds de Beer D
Sep 20, 2001·Journal of the American Chemical Society·J H CollierP B Messersmith
Feb 20, 2002·Chemical Reviews·Pierre Terech, Richard G. Weiss
Dec 11, 2003·Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry·Masahiro SuzukiKenji Hanabusa
Jan 1, 1990·Environmental Pollution·N A SorkhohS S Radwan
Mar 1, 1988·Applied and Environmental Microbiology·Nick Anast, John Smit
May 12, 2007·Current Opinion in Biotechnology·Michail M YakimovPeter N Golyshin
Jul 22, 2008·Chemistry : a European Journal·Sisir DebnathPrasanta Kumar Das
Jul 26, 2008·Nature Nanotechnology·Jikang YuanFrancesco Stellacci
Mar 6, 2009·Biomedical Materials·Priya BawaLisa C du Toit
Jan 1, 2005·Topics in Current Chemistry·Xiang Y Liu
Mar 9, 2012·Archives of Microbiology·H Al-AwadhiS Radwan
May 25, 2013·Chemistry : a European Journal·Paola FatásDavid Díaz Díaz
Dec 3, 2014·Journal of Environmental Management·Soner KizilHayal Bulbul Sonmez
Dec 17, 2014·Chemical Communications : Chem Comm·Jürgen BachlDavid Díaz Díaz
Jan 24, 2016·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Nedaa AliSamir Radwan
Jan 30, 2016·Angewandte Chemie·Amol M VibhuteKana M Sureshan
May 19, 2017·MicrobiologyOpen·Dina M Al-MailemSamir S Radwan