Degradation of aromatics and saturates in crude oil by soil enrichments

Soil was incubated in the presence of Prudhoe Bay crude oil at 20°C under shake-flask conditions. With the addition of N and P to the medium, the susceptibility of aromatic compounds to microbial degradation over an 11-day period was found to be: naphthalene ≈ 2-methylnaphthalene > 1-methylnaphthalene > dimethylnaphthalenes ≈ dibenzothiophene ≈ phenanthrene > C₃-naphthalenes > methylphenanthrenes > C₂-phenanthrenes. Then-alkanes and isoprenoids (pristane and phytane) were also extensively degraded during this time. The omission of N and P from the medium reduced the extent to which the culture degraded then-alkanes but had little effect on the degradation of the aromatic fraction after a 27-day incubation period.