Biodegradation of crude oils.

Petroleum from well sites in the Gifhorn Trough (Lower Saxony, NW-Germany) and the Maracaibo Basin (Venezuela) contained various types of microorganisms capable of degrading crude oils. Genetically related oils were inoculated with the isolated microorganisms and the degradation of the oils was followed by chromatographic techniques. Parameters important for the reactions (pH, supply of oxygen, nitrogen and phosphorus, reaction medium) were monitored and optimized. The degradation of n-alkanes was followed closely. Microorganisms active in degradation (yeast, bacteria) easily survived a period of inactivity due to missing nutrients and were reactivated within hours to degrade newly added crude oil. Under substrate-limiting conditions selectivity of degradation was found, destroying medium-chain n-alkanes (C20, C21) at a faster rate than long-chain n-alkanes (C30, C31). During degradation the physical parameters of the crude oils (e.g. density, viscosity, average molecular weight) were altered and shifted into the direction of heavy oil. In vitro degraded oil is very similar to oil degraded in nature. Aromatic hydrocarbons and biomarker molecules (steranes and triterpanes) were not degraded under the conditions used. Pyrolysis-GC analysis of asphaltenes revealed no significant changes in the composition of pyrolyzates during biodegradation. There is sufficient evidence that heavy oils - besides some other effects - are generated by the in situ-biodegradation of conventional oils.