Anthracene and Pyrene Biodegradation Performance of Marine Sponge Symbiont Bacteria Consortium

Abstract

Every petroleum-processing plant produces sewage sludge containing several types of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The degradation of PAHs via physical, biological, and chemical methods is not yet efficient. Among biological methods, the use of marine sponge symbiont bacteria is considered an alternative and promising approach in the degradation of and reduction in PAHs. This study aimed to explore the potential performance of a consortium of sponge symbiont bacteria in degrading anthracene and pyrene. Three bacterial species (Bacillus pumilus strain GLB197, Pseudomonas stutzeri strain SLG510A3-8, and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus strain SLCDA 976) were mixed to form the consortium. The interaction between the bacterial consortium suspension and PAH components was measured at 5 day intervals for 25 days. The biodegradation performance of bacteria on PAH samples was determined on the basis of five biodegradation parameters. The analysis results showed a decrease in the concentration of anthracene (21.89%) and pyrene (7.71%), equivalent to a ratio of 3:1, followed by a decrease in the abundance of anthracene (60.30%) and pyrene (27.52%), equivalent to a ratio of 2:1. The level of pyrene degradation was lower than that of the anthracene due to fact that pyrene is more toxic and has a more stable molecular structure, which hinders its metabolism by bacterial cells. The products from the biodegradation of the two PAHs are alcohols, aldehydes, carboxylic acids, and a small proportion of aromatic hydrocarbon components.

Comparison of the Strength of Biodegradation of Pyrene between Symbiont Bacteria of Marine Sponges and Bacteria Isolated from Seawater

“…The types of biodeg-radation products in simple organic compounds were analyzed based on the functional groups shown on the FTIR chromatogram [14,68,91]. The percentage of biodegradation rate and the concentration of non-degradable pyrene was determined using equations 1 and 2 [4,15,33] Conc. Of degr.comp.…”

“…The structure is composed of carbon and hydrogen atoms, has no charge, a typical characteristic because the ring structure is capable of delocalizing electrons in the aromatic ring [1][2][3][4][5][6] PAH components in nature are naturally available, generally found in coal, petroleum, and organic materials that have undergone thermal decomposition [7][8][9]. Population, dynamics, and efforts to meet the needs of human life, resulting in exploration and exploitation of fossil deposits, coal, and decomposed organic biomass, being carried out more massively, resulting in the potential for disposal of PAH components in nature tends to increase from year to year [4,[10][11][12]. Aromatic hydrocarbon chemicals consist of several types [13,14].…”

“…Many research reports show that several types of bacteria can degrade hydrocarbon components, where bacteria can absorb carbon and convert it into energy [56,57]. Bacillus and pseudomonas bacteria are known to be able to carry out the function of biodegradation of hydrocarbon components [4,58,59]. Gram-positive bacteria, found in the form of bacilli, generally having obligate aerobic properties, and some can become anaerobic when oxygen is not available [3,60,61].…”

“…Bioremediation of PAHs using microorganisms has been widely developed. Several types of bacteria capable of carrying out the function of biodegradation of PAHs that have been isolated from seawater are suspected to be contaminated with hydrocarbons, including Bacillus [67], Gammaproteobacteria, Pseudomonadales [4,68]. Isolates from hydrocarbon contaminated soil, Micrococcus luteus [34], Lasiodiplodia theobromae [36], Pseudomonas aeruginosa [69].…”

“…Other research on the biodegradation of hydrocarbon components using Ganoderma lucidum, Penicillium sp, filamentous diisolasi dari fungi [3,7,32,60,72]. Types of PAHs that have been successfully degraded by a number of microorganisms including bacteria and fungi), such as naphthalene [8,21,38], anthracene [4,10,73], phenanthrene [7,50], pyrene [2,7,40,74], Benzo[a]pyrene [36,37].…”