Oil-Degrading Microbes: Bioremediation of Cooking Oils, Sabharwal, Kiran; Nguyen, Trinh; Salinas, Rure
College of Science and Mathematics
The purpose of this experiment is to isolate, grow, and enhance the oil degradation of microbes from different environments. We isolated our microbes from a fast food sink, Friendship pond, and Lake House Fountain based on an inference that these environments would contain microbes with the ability to degrade oil because of their exposure to hydrocarbons. Minimal nutrient agars were used to isolate and culture the microbes. Stained vegetable oil and Crisco were added to agars as the only carbon source. Therefore, the growth observed on the agars would confirm that these isolated microbes indeed have oil degrading capabilities. In order to precisely measure the oil degradation, a minimal nutrient broth was used with the stained oil and Crisco shortening added on top. Although microbial growth was observed in the tubes with Crisco, a measurement of degradation could not be obtained due to the solid properties of shortening. Different sizes of tubes were used to further enhance the rate of degradation. By increasing the surface area of the tube, microbes present were able to gain better access to the oil and show an increase in lipolytic activity. Light and dark conditions were studied to test for enhanced growth of photosynthesizing microbes. Finally, the pH of the broth was altered to find the preferred pH environment for the microbes.
