The prospects of using bacteria of the genus Rhodococcus and microbial surfactants for the degradation of oil pollutants

Abstract

The possibility of accelerating oil degradation by an enrichment culture of oil-oxidizing microorganisms in the presence of bacteria of the genus Rhodococcus and microbial surfactants was studied. It was shown that the degree of consumption of crude oil (2vol %) after 192 h of enrichment culture growth reached 84%. Inoculation of the active hydrocarbon-oxidizing strain Rhodococcus erythropolis EK-1 and exogenous surfactants produced by Pseudomonas sp. PS-27 increased this degree to 90 and 93–94%, respectively. On the grounds of these results, efficient methods of purification of the environment from oil pollutants can be developed.