Studying the biodegradation of paraffin wax by Iranian thermophilic indigenous crude oil bacterium

Aim and Complex structures of asphaltene and paraffin wax are two troublesome components in processing of heavy oils. Nowadays physicochemical processes are used as a resolution for this problem which are both financial and human resource consuming. Exploiting biological methods could open new horizon to solve these problems..
In this study after sampling from different Lavan’s production wells, initial treatment with paraffin was done. Then screening, enrichment and isolation were done consequently. Biosurfactant production was also investigated. The next step was studying the growth curve of the bacteria that were able to use paraffin as the sole source of carbon and energy and their physiochemical endurance was monitored. After bacterial treatment, paraffin was extracted by n-hexane and was analyzed chemically by gas chromatograph FID. Finally the selected bacterium was identified molecularly.
GC chromatograms suggested a considerable decrease in amount of paraffinic components through the treatment by an indigenous thermophlic, biosurfactant producing bacterium, known as Bacillus thermoleovorans molecularly. This bacterium could grow in temperature rate from 40°C to 65°C, pH from 4 to 10 and salinity from 0.5 to 15%.
A few studies on paraffin degradation in high temperature have been done in Iran. Bacillus thermoleovorans is an Iranian crude oil indigenous thermophilic bacterium with high physicochemical endurance which could be a proper choice environmental of petroleum industry application.