ABSTRACT

Hydrocarbon pollution of the soil is really detrimental to the environment and human lives are put at risk. Some microorganisms are able to utilize these hydrocarbons and therefore survive in these environments. This study was aimed at isolating, characterizing and identifying bacteria from hydrocarbon polluted sites. A total of eight isolates were obtained from hydrocarbon polluted soil sample and were characterized using standard microbiological and biochemical techniques. The isolated bacteria were characterized into three genera belonging to Pseudomonas, Bacillus and Staphylococcus and identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus spp. and Staphylococcus aureus. Of all the isolates, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most abundant with 50%, followed by Bacillus spp. with 37.5% and lastly Staphylococcus aureus with 12.5%. The high abundance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus spp. in hydrocarbon polluted soils may be attributed to Pseudomonas aeruginosa being very resistant and the ability to form adaptive structures such as spores as seen in Bacillus spp. and they are known to be good hydrocarbon degraders. This study has shown that these organisms can be found in hydrocarbon polluted sites and can be used to remediate oil contaminated sites, because this process is less costly, eco-friendly, and have a higher public acceptability compared to other processes. Therefore, it is recommended that the degradative capabilities of these isolated organisms should be further studied to know the particular organisms that best suits the remediation process.