Abstract
Oil Producing as well as consuming nations of the world must rise up to the challenge of environmental pollution due to spillage of both crude and refined hydrocarbon products. The devastating effect of crude oil on both living and non living components of the environment is something that deserves serious attention. For a cost effective and sustainable restoration of nonliving environment sewage sludge was assessed in this work. Experiments were conducted to determine the nutritional contents of sewage sludge with a view to assessing their effect in bacterial degradation of Bonny light crude oil. Samples of sewage sludge was obtained and processed. Crude protein, fat, fibre, ash, Phosphorus and trace metals contents of the sludge were determined using standard procedures. The results obtained revealed that sewage sludge contained appreciable essential nutrients like Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Manganese and Zinc. Crude oil degrading bacteria were isolated from soil and water samples obtained from a garden farm using selective enrichment technique. The local isolates included Bacillus megaterium, Pseudomonas alcaligenes and Bacillus licheniformis. The bacteria were used in a simulated crude oil degradation experiment. The residual crude was extracted after degradation and subjected to chromatographic analyses using GC-MS methods. A significant reduction (P<0.05) in Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons was achieved. Thus, the practical utilization of sewage sludge in bioremediation is advocated for the reclamation of hydrocarbon polluted agricultural farmlands.

Key words: Bioremediation, Hydrocarbons, Sewage Sludge, Biostimulation