Description:
<jats:sec><jats:label /><jats:p>The aim of this study was to apply an aerobic biotechnological process for the purification of seawater polluted with hydrocarbons. With this purpose, water samples from different sinkholes from Quintana Roo, Mexico, were collected during the seasons of high (July) and low tourist activity (October), and their levels of pollution were evaluated. The results show that anthracene and icosane concentrations were related to tourism activity. Another achievement of this work was the isolation of a mixed culture, including <jats:italic>Enterobacter</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Serratia</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Escherichia</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Proteus</jats:italic>, and <jats:italic>Klebsiella</jats:italic>, from the most polluted sinkhole found, capable of using diesel as a sole carbon source. Finally, using the mixed culture, kinetic studies of diesel degradation in seawater were carried out by sequential batch in an airlift bioreactor, obtaining a high percentage, >75%, of diesel uptake after 100 h.</jats:p></jats:sec>