Hydrocarbon Degrading Bacteria: A Remedy for Oil Spills
Some of the famous oil spill disasters were of Alaska particular in Prince William Sound where 200,000 barrels of crude oil has been expanded on sea due to oil spills. In 1946, Claude E. Zobell reviewed the action of 298 microorganisms on hydrocarbons. The activity of microbes depends upon the chemical nature of the compound, and many microbes use hydrocarbons as a sole source of carbon. In 1986, the Tory Canyon named ship sank in the English Channel (Ronald M. Atlas, 1991). This drew the attention of various researchers and environmentalists and accelerated the research on hydrocarbon degradation. Afterward, various researchers have done to analyzed the microbial activity to degrade hydrocarbons so these microbes can be used as a bioremediation agent. Some of the important researchers are studied from published research papers and research journals, and are described below. The most successful method for hydrocarbon degradation is through bio-remediation, i.e. use of microb...