ISOLATION OF TOLUENE DEGRADING BACTERIA FROM POLLUTED ENVIRONMENT

D. V. Varshini and Dr. V. Judia Harriet Sumathy*

ABSTRACT

Over the past few decades, several types of pollutants have been released into the environment due to human activities. Oil spill is one of the major causes for the release of oil/liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the sea, land or any part of the environment. Since crude oil is lighter than water, it poses the threat for swift fire accidents on the sea surface. Thus Oil spills poses a great threat for environmental pollution. Toluene is an aromatic hydrocarbon. It is produced during the process of making gasoline and other fuels from crude oil and also as a by-product in the manufacture of styrene. Worldwide annual production of toluene is estimated to be 10 million. Thus Soil and land pollution continue to happen all around the world due to various causes. Cleaning up the environment using commercially available methods requires the removal of polluted area from the site and may lead to significant alteration in the nature of contaminated soil or water. Bioremediation serves as a solution for such problems where the cost is low, nature of the contaminated site remains unchanged and bioremediation of the contaminated area can be carried out in-situ. The present study is aimed at degrading toluene using bacteria which serves as a powerful bioremediation tool. The isolated efficient bacterium can be cultivated on a large scale to carry out in-situ bioremediation of polluted sites.

Keywords: Environment, Oil Spill, Pollution, Toluene and Bioremediation.