Biodegradación de asfaltenos por un consorcio microbiano aislado de petróleo crudo "maya"

Asphaltenes are hydrocarbons that pollute ecosystems by either accidental or intentional oil spills, and cause a number of problems related to the extraction and transportation of crude. Biodegradation - mediated elimination of asphaltenes is an effective process that might reduce these problems. This process could be favored by the metabolic activity of microorganisms naturally found in petroleum wells as they are permanently exposed to this kind of compounds. In order to support this statement, the objective of the research was to determine both oxidation and mineralizing of asphaltenes by a microbial consortium isolated from "Maya" petroleum, using asphaltenes as the only source of carbon and energy. The microbial consortium was isolated from a crude sample, and its growth was stabilized in a column reactor with asphaltenes as source of carbon and energy. Afterwards, it was used as inoculum to carry out triple evaluation both oxygen consumption (Winkler's technique) and carbon dioxide production (ISO9439 method) in separate systems with 0.1% asphaltenes during 20 and 13 days respectively. Growth of the consortium was stabilized at 1×10⁶ UFCmL_-1 (± 10%) during 3-week inoculation period. Oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production were significantly greater (100% at day 15 and 800 μmol CO₂, respectively), when the consortium was exposed to asphaltenes. The oxidation and mineralizing processes carried out by the stabilized microbial consortium are fundamental to reduce and eliminate asphaltenes from the affected ecosystems.