Biodegradation of the (aliphatic + aromatic) fraction of Oural crude oil. Biomarker identification using GC/MS SIM and GC/MS/MS.

A simplified fraction of the Oural crude oil (aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons) was incubated in the presence of an hydrocarbonoclastic bacterial community isolated from a marine sediment highly contaminated by petroleum residue. The biodegradation has been carried out under aerobic conditions for 5 weeks and followed by FTIR, UV synchronous luminescence and GC/FID. Disappearance of the n-alkanes (2nd week), an important attack of the isoprenoïd compounds (5th week) and preferential alteration of monomethylated polyaromatics were observed. Concerning the biomarkers, the bicyclic alkanes and pentacyclic terpanes have been comparatively elucidated using GC/MS data. The identification of C(26) to C(29) steranes has required a most selective method, namely GC/MS/MS. Many molecular ratios based on GC/MS abundances were calculated, which showed good stability. Consequently, they can be used to determine the origin of a petroleum even one altered by biodegradation.