Isolation, identification and cultural optimization of bacillus cereus UMK1 as potential bioremediation agent.

The discharge of oily wastewater to environment caused serious damages to human, animal and environment. Bioremediation is an attractive alternative to chemical method for removal of hydrocarbon from industrial effluents. The aims of this research were to assess the levels of physicochemical parameters in oily waste water and to isolate, screen and identify potential of hydrocarbon utilizing microbes from oily wastewater from automotive workshop. Besides that, it was aimed to analyze and investigate the best medium condition for growth of oily waste utilizer bacteria and the ability of microbes to utilize oily wastewater in batch culture respectively. The oily wastewater samples were collected from three automotive workshops and then characterized for parameters like oil and grease concentration and hydrocarbon content. The samples were analyzed microbiologically using standard microbiological technique and the isolated bacteria were screened for oil utilizing capabilities in mineral salt medium (MSM) under agitated condition of incubation and DCPIP test. Microbiological test such as gram staining and 16SrDNA were used to identify the bacteria and the bacterial growth optimization was studied based temperature, pH, agitation speed, inoculum size and nitrogen sources. Hydrocarbon utilization by Bacillus cereus UMK1 was monitored by gas chromatography (GC) analysis. The characterization of oily wastewater results revealed that oil and grease was major pollution parameters of concern and confirmed the existence of n-alkane, pristine, phytane, aldehydes, ester, aromatic acid and fatty acid.