Biodegradation of petroleum industry oily sludge and its application in land farming: a review
by Zahida Nasreen; Sehrish Kalsoom
International Journal of Environment and Waste Management (IJEWM), Vol. 21, No. 1, 2018

Abstract: One of the foremost solid wastes produced by petrochemical industries is oily sludge. Oily sludge being a mixture of various kinds of hydrocarbons has been characterised as a hazardous waste by Environment Protection Act and Hazardous Wastes Handling Rules which contributes a lot in environmental pollution. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are components of crude oily sludge, represent serious environmental concerns, as most of them are mutagenic, cytotoxic and carcinogenic. Several methods for degradation of oily sludge and other petroleum related contaminants have been discussed in literature. This review paper presents the most efficient process of remediating these contaminants from environment, i.e., biodegradation by microorganisms. It is attaining significance as an increasingly efficient and potentially inexpensive cleanup strategy. Its potential contribution as a countermeasure biotechnology for decontamination of oil polluted systems could be vast, as it also leads towards mineralisation of complex organic compounds to simple compounds enhancing soil organic contents. So it can be concluded that biodegradation strategy of petroleum oily sludge, even with some limitations, have proved to be one of the most cost effective and promising technology with potential application in land farming.

Online publication date: Tue, 24-Apr-2018

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