BIOTREATMENT OF AN INDUSTRIAL-WASTE OIL CONDENSATE

The biotreatment of an industrial waste oil condensate has been invest igated. The waste is an oily emulsion resulting from chemical processi ng and condensation of grease trap wastes and industrial waste oils. T he oil consists of a complex mix of hydrocarbons with significant fuel oil and lube oil fractions. Currently this waste is disposed of by in cineration. The feasibility of using a biological pretreatment process to remove a significant proportion of the hydrocarbons has been inves tigated. Enrichment cultures produced a stable bacterial consortium. F lask cultures of this enrichment culture were capable of rapid emulsif ication of the oil. Within 10 days, 40-50% of the oil waste was degrad ed. Degradation was monitored using gas chromatographic analysis with flame ionisation detector (GC-FID) and by assessment of microbial dehy drogenase activity using triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) dye redu ction. The enrichment culture consisted of 8 component organisms, 7 Gr am negative and one Gram positive organisms. Their degradative abiliti es in monoculture have been investigated. Degradation of the waste usi ng monocultures was monitored using GC-FID analysis of the Pristane:C1 7 ratio in the waste. The degradation capability of each of the compon ent organisms in pure culture was similar to that of the consortium. ( C) 1997 IAWQ. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.