Biodegradation of heavy crude oil Maya using spent compost and sugar cane bagasse wastes

Experiments were carried out to evaluate the use of some agroindustrial wastes as supports in solid state cultures for the biodegradation of crude oil Maya in static column reactors over 15-20 days periods. Spent compost and cane bagasse wastes showed superior qualities over peat moss waste as support candidates with the advantage that they contain appreciable densities of autochthonous microorganisms in the order of 102 cfu g-1. Mercuric chloride (2%) was able to completely inhibit growth of these microfloras. Biodegradation was enhanced in the presence of the IMP consortium and highest when microflora from cane bagasse only was the bioaugmentation partner (180.7 mg kg-1 day-1). Combination of these waste materials (3:1 ratio, respectively) was observed to significantly biodegrade the crude oil by approximately 40% in 15 days from an initial concentration of 10 000 mg kg-1 with a four order of magnitude increase in microbial density during this period. Spent compost and cane bagasse wastes are veritable solid support candidates for use in the biodegradation of crude oil polluted systems. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.