Use of Oil Palm Bunch and Plantain Peel Extracts as Alternative Stimulants in Crude Oil Bioutilization by Species of Bacillus and Pseudomonas

The potentials of oil palm bunch and plantain peels extracts in the enhancement of crude oil utilization by Bacillus and Pseudomonas species were evaluated. The average concentration of nutrients obtained from the extracts was: Mg = 20.4mg, N2 = 20.7mg, K =63.5mg, Ca = 480.5mg, P =276.5mg and Na = 106.5mg, at pH 6.6 to 8.1 oil palm bunch extract was a better stimulant than plantain peel in the order; MSM > OPB > PP at a correlation of r = 0.55. After 24 hours of incubation, bacillus-LSI utilized the crude oil for carbon and energy better in MSM (91.4%), OPB (52.9%) and PP (50.5%) than Pseudomonas-LSI with 82.6%, 49.4% and 41.5% respectively. The difference in utilization between these test organisms is significantly positive at p > 0.05. Generally, the result imply that organic extract of oil palm bunch and plantain peel are excellent stimulants to crude oil hydrocarbon degrades relative to MSM as control and can be deployed in a cleanup campaign of oil involving less than 10% pollution level in soil and aquatic ecosystems