Biological Conversion of Normal Chain Octadecane By Native Microbial Consortia

Long-chain alkanes are a major constituent of crude oils and their conversions intoother compounds are of interest depending on the specific application. here, fivenative microbial consortia obtained from petroleum polluted sites were examined forbiological conversion of n-octadecane as a representative of long chain alkanes. theexperiments were implemented in 250 ml flasks containing 0.5 g n-octadecane in 40ml culture media kept on a shaker at 160 rpm and 30?c for one week. a pure cultureof psedumonas putida was inoculated at the same condition for comparison.amongst the consortia, abn52 imposed more obvious changes on n-octadecane. thegc-ms analysis of daily samples showed the appearance of lighter branchedcompounds at the first and second days of incubation but disappeared in thefollowing days. at the end of incubation time up to 20 (w/w%) of the initial substratewas turned into polyhydroxyalkanoates (phas). it also suggested higher activity ofthe consortia compared to the pure culture of psedumonas putida.