Comparative Study of Suspended and Immobilized Bacteria Isolated from Garage Soil on Vegetable Oil Degradation

As an essential part of the ecosystem, soil helps to support life by promoting interactions between bedrock, water, air, and biota. But the growing number of oil spills has raised serious environmental issues, presenting problems similar to petroleum hydrocarbon pollution. Vegetable oils are generally thought to be safe, but because of their toxicity and persistence, they may have negative environmental impacts. Bioremediation techniques have gained popularity as a sustainable method of cleaning up hydrocarbon-contaminated locations in response to this environmental problem. This study uses immobilized microbial technology to increase the bioremediation effectiveness by examining the ability of bacteria isolated from a garage oil spill region to degrade vegetable oil. The study compares the degradation rates with naturally occurring bacteria to assess the effectiveness of the detected bacterium’s breakdown over time in both suspended and immobilized situations. The results add to our knowledge of microbial-mediated bioremediation in contaminated environments and highlight the promise of immobilized microbial technology as a workable method for reducing vegetable oil spills. After 45 days, immobilized bacteria showed a drastic reduction in hydrocarbon content compared to suspended bacteria, indicating increased efficacy. Moreover, the degradation rate of immobilized bacteria was significantly higher than that of suspended bacteria, as observed from the difference in hydrocarbon concentration between day 1 and day 45. Statistical analysis confirmed these findings, highlighting the effectiveness of immobilized bacteria in hydrocarbon degradation.