Bioremediation of Effluent from Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company Using Cladosporium Species
Bioremediation of Effluent from Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company Using Cladosporium Species.
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the potential bioremediation ability of Cladosporium species in hydrocarbon-contaminated wastewater.
Hydrocarbon contaminated wastewater samples were collected from the wastewater reservoir of the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company, Kaduna and the concentrations of the heavy metals, total hydrocarbon and physicochemical parameters of the samples were determined.
Some of the physicochemical parameters of the hydrocarbon contaminated water such as Electrical conductivity (15.74-25.70µS/cm),
TDS (8.00-8.50 mg/l), dissolved oxygen (0.60-0.75 mg/l) and BOD (0.20-0.52 mg/l) were lower than their respective WHO (2011) permissible limits while Ammonium nitrates (0.12-0.8 mg/l), Turbidity (2.63-10.30 NTU) and pH (7.40-12.00) were higher before bioremediation.
The concentration of Zinc (1.97-2.86mg/l) and Copper (0.35-1.49 mg /l) were within their respective WHO (2011) acceptable limits while Manganese (0.65-2.0 mg/l), Cadmium (0.38-0.56mg/l) and Lead (14.42-15.09mg/l) exceeded the acceptable standards before bioremediation.
Nickel was not detected in all the sampling points. The highest total hydrocarbon concentration observed before bioremediation was 1.87mg/l. Cladosporium species was isolated from the study area, identified and characterized on the basis of their macroscopic and microscopic morphologies using standard taxonomic guides.
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Bioremediation is the treatment of contaminated environment by using biological mechanisms (Adamet al., 2017). Biodegradation is defined as the biologically catalyzed reduction in the complexity of chemical compounds (Alexander, 1973).
These substances are transformed through metabolic or enzymatic processes. This transformation is based on two processes namely growth and co-metabolism.
In growth, organic pollutants are used as sole source of energy and carbon while growth substrate is used in co-metabolism.
The process results in a complete degradation called mineralization (Roling et al., 2004; Fritscheand Hofritcher, 2008).
Biodegrading microorganisms are those that mineralize complex organic molecules into simpler ones. Hydrocarbons are complex and heterogeneous groups of organic molecules that are made up of carbon and hydrogen.
Mycoremediation is a form of bioremediation where fungi are used to degrade or sequester contaminants in the environment (Margesin and Shinner 2001).
The decomposition by the fungi is usually performed by the mycelia. The mycelia secrete extracellular enzymes and acids that break down the organic matter (Medina- Beliver et al., 2005).
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