Research Article
Abdullah M. El Mahdi, Hamidi A
Abstract
In the current study; Kocuria sp. SAR1 was isolated from ‘Tobruk Refinery’ oil water pit, located along the eastern coast of Libya. The isolated bacterial strain SAR1 was characterized as an aerobic, Gram +ve, spherical-shaped, oxidase – but catalase +. Phenotypic characters and phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene of the isolate SAR1 showed that it was related to members of the Kocuria genus. The alignment of the 16S rRNA gene sequences of SAR1 with sequences obtained by doing a Blast searching revealed 96% similarity to Kocuria palustris strain TAGA27. Solid waste dates (SWD) and corn steep liquor (CSL) as agro-industrial products were performed to enhance the performance of Kocuria sp. SAR1 in crude oil biodegradation. During bacterial growth, high emulsifying activity to the presence of cells was observed, which is concluding the production of bio surfactant by strain SAR1. The bacterial strain showed removal ef?ciency of 68% and 70% of crude oil in 28 days when cultivated with 0.2% (w/v) of CSL and SWD, respectively. Crude oil metabolizing bacterium can secrete surfactants using agro industrial as substrates, which further enhance the hydrocarbon degradation.