Access-dispersion-recovery strategy for enhanced mitigation of heavy crude oil pollution using magnetic nanoparticles...

Heavy crude oil (HCO) pollution has gained global attention, but traditional bioremediating practices demonstrate limited effectiveness. This study developed magnetic nanoparticles decorated bacteria (MNPB) using an oil-degrading and biosurfactant-producing Rhodococcus erythropolis species and identified a novel access-dispersion-recovery strategy for enhanced HCO pollution mitigation. The strategy entails (1) magnetic navigation of the MNPB towards HCO layer, (2) enhanced oil dispersion and formation of suspended oil-bacteria aggregates, and (3) magnetic recovery of these aggregates. The UV-spectrophotometer analysis showed that this strategy can enable up to 62% removal of HCO. The GC-MS analysis demonstrated that the MNPB enhanced the degradation of low-molecular-weight aromatics comparing with the pure bacteria, and the recovery process further removed oil-bacteria aggregates and entrained high-molecular-weight aromatics. The feasibility of using MNPB to mitigate HCO pollution could shed light on the emerging bioremediation applications.