Bioremediation of oil spills using microorganism science. Bioremediation as a tool for resiliency in oil spills abstract with an increase in boating, offshore drilling, and transportation of oil, coastal communities are in need of a plan to clean up waterways in the event of an offshore oil spill. Potential approaches to improving biodegradation of hydrocarbons for bioremediation of crude oil pollution. An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. Bioremediation is a process by which chemical substances are degraded by bacteria and other microorganisms. Study on the biodegradation of crude oil by free and. Dramatic accidents and oil spills like the 2010 deepwater horizon disaster also known as the bp oil disastermake headline news. Oil spills often cause destructive effects on aquatic and land ecosystems. Biodegradation basically involves the conversion of complex organic molecules to simpler and mostly nontoxic ones. Hydrophobic nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers are the potential solution for the treatment of oil spills. Oil spill bioremediation laboratory 2 introduction in this lab, i am going to observe oil spill experiment, the way that oil and water interact with each other and what happens with the oil if it stays or if it spreads. Manufactured from crude oil made mainly from hydrogen and carbon found in crude oil, gasoline, kerosene, heating fuel oil, and asphalt stored and transported in large volumes by ship, rail, truck, and pipelines one of most prevalent contaminants in subsurface. Congress, office of technology assessment,bioremediation for marine oil spills background paper, otabpo70 washington, dc. There are physical, chemical, and biological alternatives.
Oil spills oil spills occur frequently throughout the world. Bioremediation o conducted under controlled conditions, biositesm bioremediation uses a combination of chemicals and microorganisms to naturally break down hazardous materials into nonhazardous substances that can be recycled or buried in conventional landfills. They found that the quantities of fertilizer npk i. Microbial biodegradation and bioremediation brings together experts in relevant fields to describe the successful application of microbes and their derivatives for bioremediation of potentially toxic and relatively novel compounds. It involves utilizing naturally occurring microorganisms which are able to eat hydrocarbons and use them as an energy source. Major oil spills in the world by order of quantity 2. Key findings from bioremediation research on marine, freshwater, and wetland oil spills were presented. Despite the complications with bioremediation, it is still being used or studied for use in the remediation of crude oil spills, sewage effluents, chlorinated solvents, pesticides, agricultural chemicals, gasoline contaminants, contaminants from wood processing, radioactive metals and toxic metals 5. Unrefined crude oil accounts for majority of oil spills because this is the principle cargo of supertankers which hold up to 84 million gallons of crude oil.
Bioremediation of water areas due to oil spills alison hawkins abstract there are various methods that can be used to cleanup an oil spill on a waterway. Although recent marine oil spills and bioremediation efforts have called attention to the potential of bioremediation as an oil spill response technology, some of these other applications, in particular the treatment of hazardous waste, appear to have greater potential. The oil that spilled during the deepwater horizon disaster, for example, decimated bird and fish. United states environmental protection agency office of research and development washington, d. Bioremediation methods for oil spills pace university. They used bioremediation to clean their waste water. Bioremediation of marine oil spills matt radermacher abstract bioremediation of marine oil spills has become a very practical approach to oil spill cleanup efforts in recent years. The crude oil sample was from xingzhong sinochem oil transport zhoushan co.
But first, i will take we take one tablespoon of oil on the cylinders 1 to 5. Research into bioremediation of oil spills in tropical. These spills may occur as a result of a physical harm to oil tankers that the ships carry or the damage to huge offshore oil platforms or mismanagement of workers at drilling rigs and oil wells. Bioremediation as a tool for resiliency in oil spills.
Abstract bioremediation of marine oil spills in the long run, biodegradation is the eventual fate of oil spilled at sea that cannot be collected or burnt. In the years following the spill, portions of the crude oil dissolved in the flowing ground water and moved 200 m from the original spill site. Treating contaminated soils onsite at bioremediation facilities. Much later, in the 1960s, bioremediation was officially invented by george robinson. These oil degrading indigenous microorganisms played a significant role in reducing the overall environmental impact of both the exxon valdez and bp deepwater horizon oil spills. Comparative bioremediation of soils contaminated with diesel oil by natural attenuation, biostimulation and bioaugmentation fatima m. Bioremediation of oil spills submitted by anchal garg environment science 2016 2. Manual removal of oil is a critical first step and when paired with bioremediation. References are included at the end of each case history. The soils were heavily contaminated with highly saturated crude oil. This singlesource reference encompasses all categories of pollutants and their applications in a convenient, comprehensive package. Bioremediation oil spills share this page oil spills have become serious problem in cold environments with ever icrese in resource exploitation,transportation,storage and accidental lekage of oils bioremidation is a promising action for remidation it is effective and economic in removing oils with less undue environmental damages.
In some cases, these releases are deliberate and well regulated e. A way to mitigate the effects of oil spills is bioremediation. Normally, cleaning these delicate environments would upset the balance of living organisms there, but microbes offer a natural way to clean things utilizing chemistry. Enormous quantities of organic and inorganic compounds are released into the environment each year as a result of human activities. An oil spill is a form of pollution that involves the release of petroleum into the biosphere especially the waterways such as oceans, posing a huge threat to marine life. Heavy crude oils that contain large amounts of resin and asphaltene compounds are less amenable to bioremediation than are lightor mediumweight crude oils that are rich in aliphatic components. Removal by sorption and in situ biodegradation of oil spills limits damage to marine biota a laboratory simulation. Cleans oilcontaminated sites and postrefining oil residues oil spills into the aquatic and terrestrial environments are a not so uncommon occurrence. Read this article to learn about the biodegradation and bioremediation in details with diagrams. Microbial biodegradation and bioremediation 1st edition. The results found that of some of the oil stays together and some go down to the very bottom. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters, but spills may also occur on land. Comparative bioremediation of soils contaminated with.
Potential approaches to improving biodegradation of. Enhancing bioremediation of dieselfuel contaminated soil in a boreal climate. Background each year, millions of gallons of oil enter the worlds oceans. Bioremediation of oilspilled sites through seeding of. Bioremediation of oil spills this threeyear project assessed short term effects of commonly transported oils and in situ bioremediation on tropical australian mangrove and salt marsh habitats. Some contend that dispersants should not be used, while others point to their ability to speed up natural oil biodegradation processes. Petroleum biodegradation and oil spill bioremediation. The use of these microorganisms has been successfully applied for the treatment of waste and wastewater in. Finally, the oil surface area is extremely important because growth of oil.
The tragic exxon valdez oil spill in 1989, informed the united states of the lack of preparedness the oil industry and country had in such remediation situations. Biodegradation or biological degradation is the phenomenon of biological transformation of organic compounds by living organisms, particularly the microorganisms. Costeffective alternative to clean environmental messes. Presentations at the workshop addressed bioremediation as practiced by the oil industry, toxicity assessment after bioremediation, and other technical issues. Oil spills may be due to releases of crude oil from tankers, offshore platforms, drilling. Consideration should be given to seeding oil spills with hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria. The material was highly liquefied and had no solid texture. Guidelines for the bioremediation of oilcontaminated salt. The biological method is also known as bioremediation, which can be broken down into bioaugmentation and biostimulation. Bioremediation for marine oil spills princeton university. Oil spills require quick action so that they cause as little damage as possible. Usually, mechanical removal of free oil is utilized as an effective. Bioremediation has been shown to be a safe and effective way to reduce the effects of oil spills.
The national oil and hazardous substances pollution. Oil properties were taken from environment canadas catalogue of crude oil and oil product properties 1990 version unpublished report ee125, ottawa. Intended for both academics and practitioners, the book presents information on the legal, scientific, and engineering principles behind bioremediation for cleaning up contaminated soil and groundwater sources. Applied microbial solutions for realworld environmental cleanup is a fascinating examination of research and its realworld application. Bioremediation of diesel oil contaminated soil and water. The oil spill cleanup and recovery techniques are challenging and usually involve complex mechanical, chemical, and biological methods.
Bioremediation oil spills list of high impact articles. Hydrocarbondegrading bacteria often produce bioemulsifiers. The limited degradability of hopanes had been noted in the earlier amoco cadiz spill, and hopanes were still extractable from sediments contaminated by the torrey canyon spill over a decade after that spill occurred. Fortunately, unlike higher organisms that are adversely impacted by oil spills, microorganisms are able to consume petroleum hydrocarbons. The oil spills are mainly categorized into 4 types. Part ii provides guidelines for design and planning of oil bioremediation in sa lt marshes, which includes site characterization. Bioremediation of petroleum in the sea is limited by n and p availability.
The soil in the storage area exhibited cement like characteristics on the direct surface of the materials, but below this one inch hard crust was a soil that displayed a wet cement like soil. Attached is a copy of epas letter to exxon in which the agency states its support of an exxon proposal for the use of bioremediation to clean up the valdez oil spill. The impact of oil pollution on marine ecosystems is profound and longlasting. Frankenberger b, a department of soil science, federal university of rio grande do sul, porto alegre rs 91540000, brazil b department of environmental sciences084, university of california.
Bioremediation was first discovered around 600 bc by the romans. The microbes went to work with no human intervention, showing that intrinsic bioremediation can be effective for containing spills of petroleum products. The possible reason for such injurious effects is the. Introduction to petroleum hydrocarbons characteristics of petroleum hydrocarbons problems with oil spills treatment techniques discussion on bioremediation case studies. The devastating effects on marine life from the exxon valdez spill in alaska and the spills during the gulf war due to destruction of oil reservoirs are well documented. Field work on the project was conducted at port curtis near gladstone in queensland. Changes in crude oil production and distribution have increased the incidence of oil spills throughout the world. Although their versions of the process arent as developed as todays, they were still able to use it. The crude oil used in the experiment was obtained by dissolving crude oil sample in nonaromatic petroleum ether 6090. I love the fact that these microbes can be used for bioremediation in hardtoreach polluted spots, she says. Bioremediation is defined as the process whereby organic wastes are biologically degraded under controlled conditions to an innocuous state, or to levels below concentration limits established by regulatory authorities 2 for bioremediation to be effective, microorganisms must enzymatically attack the pollutants and convert them to.
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