Application of EZ-Enzyme in Bioremediation of Oily Sludge

Sludge farming is commonly used in petroleum refinery as a method of treatment for oily waste containing degradable constituents into materials that are not hazardous to human health or the environment. the sludge is left on a designated plot of land to be biodegraded naturally, but the process could take a considerable length of time. in this study, an enzyme known as ez-enzyme was tested to bioremediate the oily sludge sample in a laboratory scale experiment. results shown that there was a consistent reduction in the oil and grease (o&g) content of the tested sludge (~ 60% in average). the o&g content decreased with increase in the concentration of enzyme. the o&g content in a sludge sample decreased the most with the application of 100 pm ez-enzyme, which decreased from 8% to 2% within a period of nine weeks. in general, the temperature and ph of the system were maintained at optimum condition, which were 35â°c and ph 7 respectively. the quality of the leachate was also improved by the end of the study, where chemical oxygen demand (cod) was 25 mg/l and ph was 6.45 respectively