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Degradation of aromatics and saturates in crude oil by soil enrichments

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Abstract

Soil was incubated in the presence of Prudhoe Bay crude oil at 20°C under shake-flask conditions. With the addition of N and P to the medium, the susceptibility of aromatic compounds to microbial degradation over an 11-day period was found to be: naphthalene ≈ 2-methylnaphthalene > 1-methylnaphthalene > dimethylnaphthalenes ≈ dibenzothiophene ≈ phenanthrene > C3-naphthalenes > methylphenanthrenes > C2-phenanthrenes. Then-alkanes and isoprenoids (pristane and phytane) were also extensively degraded during this time. The omission of N and P from the medium reduced the extent to which the culture degraded then-alkanes but had little effect on the degradation of the aromatic fraction after a 27-day incubation period.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, University of Alberta, T6G 2E9, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    P. M. Fedorak & D. W. S. Westlake

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  1. P. M. Fedorak
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  2. D. W. S. Westlake
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Fedorak, P.M., Westlake, D.W.S. Degradation of aromatics and saturates in crude oil by soil enrichments. Water Air Soil Pollut 16, 367–375 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01046917

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01046917

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