The efficiency of Penicillium commune for bioremoval of industrial oil

Abstract

Among all environmental contaminations, industrial oil is one of the major pollutants of soil, water, and air. There are different chemical, physical, and biological methods to remove all types of oil pollutions. One of the common biological methods is to utilize the microorganisms like yeast, fungi or bacteria. Previous studies concerning the biodegradation of an aromatic compound in industrial waste water by Aspergillus niger have been reported. In this study, we tried to identify an oil-derived microorganism and evaluate its efficacy on self-removal of industrial oil. Firstly, the strain of isolated fungus from various bulks of used oil was defined via colonial identification and DNA sequencing. Secondly, bioremoval activity of defined fungus (Penicillium commune) was evaluated using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The optimum conditions in biological elimination of oil including the incubation time, pH level of culture, and amount of reagents were determined. In the best condition, a removal rate of 95.4 % was obtained. © 2014 The Author(s).