occurring, yellow-to-black liquid found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface, which is commonly refined into various types of fuels. This liquid contains aliphatic hydrocarbons, or hydrocarbons composed of nothing but hydrogen and carbon. The carbon atoms link together in chains of different lengths. It turns out that hydrocarbon molecules of different lengths have different properties and behaviors. For example, a chain with just one carbon atom in it (CH 4 ) is the lightest chain, known as methane. Methane is a gas so light that it floats like helium. As the chains get longer, they get heavier. The first four chains CH 4 (methane), C 2 H 6 (ethane), C 3 H 8 (propane) and C 4 H 10 (butane) are all gases, and they boil at -161, -88, -46 and -1 degrees F, respectively (-107, -67, -43 and -18 degrees C). The chains up through C 18 H 32 or so are all liquids at room temperature, and the chains above C 19 are all solids at room temperature. The name petroleum covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that are made up of refined crude oil. A fossil-fuel, petroleum is formed when large quantities of dead organisms, usually zooplankton and algae, are buried underneath sedimentary rock and subjected to intense heat and pressure.
Petroleum is refined to produce petrol and diesel. Fractional Distillation process is used on petroleum and at various temperatures, different by products are formed from it. Petrol and diesel both are derived at varying temperatures during refining process. Petrol is produced at temperature between 35 degrees to 200 degrees while diesel is produced at a boiling point of 250-350 degrees. After distillation, in order to use these byproducts as commercially acceptable petrol and diesel, some blending with other elements has to be done. Petrol is produced first in this process as it is produced at a lower temperature than diesel. The component of petroleum and petroleum products number in the tens of thousands. They range in molecular weight from methane (16) to very large uncharacterized components with molecular weight in the thousands. The toxicity of the components varies immensely. Overall, the components of these mixtures have only two common properties: They are derived from petroleum and they contain hydrocarbon functional groups (C-H). The more common functional categories of compounds found in petroleum products are n-alkanes, branched alkanes, cycloalkanes, and aromatic compounds. In certain mixtures there are other functional categories present (alkenes, mercaptans, porphorins, etc.). They provide energy to heat our homes and places of work, fuel our transportation systems and power manufacturing processes and tools, as well as providing a source for the numerous synthetic materials we take for granted in our lives. When they are used as intended, PHCs provide great benefits to society. However, when released to the soil environment as raw feed stocks or refined fuels or lubricants, problems can result. These include fire and explosion hazard, human and environmental toxicity, movement through soil to air or water, odour and impairment of soil processes such as water retention and nutrient cycling.
Diesel Fuel :
Diesel is composed of about 75% saturated hydrocarbons (primarily paraffins including n, iso, and cycloparaffins), and 25% aromatic hydrocarbons (including naphthalenes and alkylbenzenes). The average chemical formula for common diesel fuel is C12H23, ranging from approx. C10H20 to C15H28. Petrol consists of hydrocarbons with between 5 and 12 carbon atoms per molecule but then it is blended for various uses. Overall a typical petrol sample is predominantly a mixture of paraffins (alkanes), naphthenes (cycloalkanes), aromatics and olefins (alkenes). The ratios vary based on a variety of factors.
Impacts on Animals and Human health :
Health effects from exposure to petroleum products vary depending on the concentration of the substance and the length of time that one is exposed. Breathing petroleum vapors can cause nervous system effects (such as headache, nausea and dizziness) and respiratory irritation. Very high exposure can cause coma and death. Liquid petroleum products which come in contact with the skin can cause irritation and some can be absorbed through the skin. Chronic exposure to petroleum products may affect the nervous system, blood and kidneys. Gasoline contains small amounts of benzene, a known human carcinogen. Animals exposed to high levels of some petroleum products have developed liver and kidney tumors. Whether specific petroleum products can cause cancer in humans is not known; however, there is evidence that occupationally exposed people in the petroleum refining industry have an increased risk of skin cancer and leukemia. A spill that affects a home or business may affect the health of people who live and work there. Thus, spill or leak should be stopped and cleaned up. Health complaints should be taken seriously. Individuals who experience health problems that may be related to a petroleum spill should see their family physician or health care provider. Some individuals are more sensitive to petroleum odors and to the effects of exposure than others. The county health department or state health department may be able to help provide additional health information to affected individuals and their doctors. In situations where the indoor air environment has become contaminated to the extent that strong odors are present or air monitoring indicates serious contamination, home owners, businesses, and tents may be advised to relocate until the cleanup is completed. Generally, a DEC inspector or a county health department assessor determine whether relocation is recommended. People, including residential tents who may not be legally responsible for the spill, can request relocation financial assistance from the Fund to cover reasonable expenses for lodging and meals. The county health department should be contacted for relocation assistance. Concerns about possible exposure via soil or water contamination should also be directed to the county health department (See attached list of county health department contacts).
Environmental problems :
Worldwide industrial and agricultural developments have released a large number of natural and synthetic hazardous compounds into the environment due to careless waste disposal, illegal waste dumping and accidental spills. There are numerous sites in the world that require cleanup of soils and sludge. In the United States, it has been estimated that contaminated site treatment costs may approach 1.7 trillion dollars over the next 30 years.
Increasing industrialization and associated oil exploration has resulted in vast quantities of petroleum contaminants being released into the environment. Accidental spills from the petroleum industry are one of the leading causes of soil and groundwater pollution. Soils contaminated by petrochemicals can rapidly lose their function and stability, with severe contamination events leading to considerable environmental deterioration and/or loss of natural and agricultural productivity. This is a reverse-chronological list of oil spills that have occurred throughout the world and spill(s) that are currently ongoing. Quantities are measured in tonnes of crude oil with one tonne roughly equal to 308 US gallons, or 7.33 barrels, or 1165 liters. This calculation uses a median value of 0.858 for the specific gravity of light crude oil; actual values can range from 0.816 to 0.893, so the amounts shown below are inexact. They are also estimates, because the actual volume of an oil spill is difficult to measure exactly.
Traditional remediation techniques involving physical (washing, excavation) and/or chemical treatments are expensive and can be environmentally destructive. For example, chemical treatment technologies such as flushing soil with strong oxidisers or surfactants can exceed costs as high as US$300 yard3 soil (US EPA,2006). There is, therefore, a growing need to develop green technologies that reduce both financial and environmental costs. Bio-remediation, whereby enhanced microbial degradation of contaminants occurs within the soil (rhizosphere), is one such technology with great potential for mitigating the effects of organic pollutants in surface soils. The remediation method, bio- augmentation, involving the introduction of microorganisms into contaminated water or soil, is widely used for cleaning up environments polluted with organic compounds, co-contaminated with hydrocarbons and heavy metals, or polluted with heavy metals. In bio-augmentation of petroleum-contaminated soil, hydrocarbon- degrading bacteria are applied to polluted environments in order to accelerate the degradation of toxic compounds. One of the main problems that limit the effectiveness of this process is very low solubility and high hydrophobicity of oil pollutants. These compounds strongly bind to soil particles, and thereby they are poorly available for bacterial cells. Solution to this problem is the use of bio-surfactants or bio-surfactant producing microorganisms. Bio-surfactants are a structurally diverse group of surface-active substances produced by microorganisms that exhibit the ability to reduce surface and interfacial tension. They may enhance hydrocarbon bioremediation by two mechanisms. The first includes the increase the substrate availability for microorganisms, while the second involves interaction with the cell surface, which increases the hydrophobicity of the surface, allowing. MATARIALS AND METHODS: Glass wares: All glass wares include conical flasks; petriplates, test tubes and measuring cylinder were rinsed with tap water and then deionized water. Cleaning: All the glass wares used in this experiment was cleaned with teepol, a detergent. Finally rinsed with deionized water. Deionized water: obtained from deionizer plant (bhanu aqua DM 600, BHANU scientific company).it is used for cleaning and media preparation. Chemicals: All chemicals are obtained from either sigma-aldrich or S.D fine-chemical ltd or Himedia or qualigens or Emerck. Sterilization: Sterilization was done by autoclaving at 121 : Orbital shaker:
Centrifuge: All isolates were centrifuged at 10,000rpm/10min for emulsification test. Pcr amplifier:
Agarose electrophoresis: 16:
Gas chromatography:
Reagents: Include dichloromethane, sodium anhydrous sulfate. Sample collection: Three samples were collected from diesel oil contaminated sites in Hyderabad. Enrichment of culture: Mineral salt media with 5% diesel oil as sole carbon and energy source of 50ml in each 100ml conical flask, and 1g of soil sample was inoculated then incubated at 37c for three days in orbital shaker. Isolation: Isolation was done with loop by the transfer of culture from enriched flasks to petriplates. Purification: It is done by repeated streaking. Characterization and identification: