Isolation, identification and characterisation of diesel degrading bacteria

Hydrocarbons such as diesel fuel, crude oil and petroleum distillates are some of the world’s most widely used primary energy and fuel resources (Watanabe, 2001). Biodegradation of hydrocarbons by natural populations of microorganisms allows for the conversion of hazardous substances into forms that are less or non-toxic and represents one of the primary mechanisms by which petroleum and diesel products are removed from the environment. The present study was designed to identify the diesel degrading microorganism from the diesel polluted soil and study their degradation capacity. The different isolates were identified from the contaminated soil belongs to Bacillus species, Klebsiella species, Citrobacter and Pseudomonas species. The isolates identified were analysed for biodegradation potential of diesel in Minimal salt medium by turbidometry method OD values measured at 595nm. The result showed that DC7 has highly diesel degrading organism in compared to other isolates, the organism was identified as Bacillus sp.