The number of vehicles and machines increases every year around the world, positively correlated to the increasing demand of lubricant oil. However, hydrocarbon contained in the waste lubricant oil could contaminate the environment that crucially be recovered. Bioremediation is a promising solution since it is low cost and risk. Bacteria is a group of microorganism that mostly involved in bioremediation. Previously, we collected waste lubricant oil-contaminated soil from several service stations in West Sumatra. In vitro experiment indicated thirteen isolates have potential to degrade hydrocarbon containing in waste lubricant oil. In this study, the objectives are to identify the potential bacteria isolates molecularly as well as doing experimental study. We recognized 12 species of potential bacteria, i.e. Alcaligenes sp, Comamonas testosterone, Bacillus thuringiensis, Bacillus amyloliqueficiens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus pseudomycoides, Brevibacterium sp, and Achromobacter sp. These bacteria are cosmopolitan. In situ experiment using Bacillus sp, Alcaligenes sp and manure compost showed all types of treatment have significant different with control group to degrade total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH). It is concluded that most of hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria found in waste lubricant oil-contaminated soil are ubiquitous bacteria. These bacteria can degrade TPH in situ and potentially to be developed for bioremediation agents.
Ahda et al. (Tue,) studied this question.