Proposed cleanup guidelines for small crude oil spills using bioremediation process selection flow chart james brown, lockheed martinreac harry allen, usepaert prerequisites for acceptance by small independent oil producers are that guidelines be. While an oil slick is floating or emerging from a wellhead, this can be done by spraying dispersants to. The overall process starts with isolating contaminated site conditions and characterizing what resident microbes exist. Scientists watch how these microbes already interact with the pollutants. The soils were heavily contaminated with highly saturated crude oil. Bioremediation is an emergent branch of environmental biotechnology that is often used to accelerate this process and guarantees the reparation. In most cases, bioremediation works to either increase the numbers of naturally occurring microorganisms or add pollutantspecific microbes to the area. The bioremediation process and procedures described herein are part of a. Spilled oil is one of the worst environmental issues. Oil spill response methods booms and skimmers bioremediation by oil eating bacteria edvokit 956 1. Oil spill eater ii ose ii is the worlds most environmentally safe and cost effective bioremediation process for the mitigation of hazardous waste, spills and contamination virtually anywhere of any size, large or small.
They found that the quantities of fertilizer npk i. Some contend that dispersants should not be used, while others point to their ability to speed up natural oil biodegradation processes. Treating contaminated soils onsite at bioremediation facilities. Vivekanandan department of biotechnology, bharathidasan university, tiruchirappalli620 024, india. Bioslurping, using pumping to apply oxygen and water, thus separating and compiling soils to increase remediation of microbes. Bioremediation of exxon valdez oil spill epa press release july 31, 1989 based upon results of epas research program, the exxon corp. Oil spill bioremediation 2 oil spill bioremediation introduction the oil spill is a serious matter because millions of gallons of oil enter the ocean yearly. Bioremediation is a process which uses microorganisms and their to remove products. Many success stories of highly and vastly contaminated sites are now known, including long shore lines, as in alaska oil spill, or decontamination of polluted soils or agriculture fields. In terms of remediation, however, although there were numerous and varying physical methods utilized to remove or disperse the oil, in both instances, bioremediation played a major role in mitigating the environmental impacts of these oil spills.
Oil spills oil spills occur frequently throughout the world. Natural weathering of petroleum and the applicability of. 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. Bioremediation of marine oil spills iowa state university. Aug 05, 2016 in a letter to exxon, epa provided information that would support the use of bioremediation as a cleanup technique for the valdez oil spill. Both are deeply skeptical of treating oil spills with foreign bacteria.
Removal by sorption and in situ biodegradation of oil spills limits damage to marine biota a laboratory simulation. Bioremediation of exxon valdez oil spill about epa us epa. The material was highly liquefied and had no solid texture. Field work on the project was conducted at port curtis near gladstone in queensland. Aug 15, 2011 fortunately, unlike higher organisms that are adversely impacted by oil spills, microorganisms are able to consume petroleum hydrocarbons.
Aug 29, 2011 the contamination cleanup strategy called bioremediationusing naturally occurring or genetically modified microbes to clean up our messesis gaining steam, as scientists devise new ways to. The success of seeding oil spills with microbial preparations is ambiguous. Microbial hydrocarbon degradationbioremediation of oil spills. Congress, office of technology assessment, bioremediation for marine oil spills. Frankenberger b, a department of soil science, federal university of rio grande do sul, porto alegre rs 91540000, brazil. Bioremediation technique clears up these oil spills by application of microbes. Apr 16, 2012 this popular press article discusses the important topic of risk assessment regarding the use of chemical dispersants in oil spills. The future research on the oil spill bioremediation must be focused on.
The devastating environmental impacts of the exxon valdez spill in 1989 and its media notoriety made it a frequent comparison to the bp deepwater horizon spill in the popular press in 2010, even though the nature of the two spills and the environments impacted were vastly different. Attempts were done to help reverse the influence of oil spills and to help prevent such problems. Oil spill is release of petroleum into waterways and are threat to marine life. Prince bioremediation is a potentially important option for dealing with marine oil spills. This data article details pseudomonas aeruginosa effects on the bioremediation of soil that had been polluted by different concentrations, 5% ww and 8% ww, of raw for simulating oil spills from. In the gulf of mexico oil spill, there was a large difference in the surface and deep water temperatures. 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. Oil spills are harmful for marine life photo credit noaa and georgia department of natural resources, ccby 2. Introduction an oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity. Fact sheet bioremediation in oil spill response this fact sheet is to provide on scene coordinators and other decisionmakers with the latest information on evolving technologies that may be applicable for use in responding to an oil spill. Oil spill pollution could also result from the sales, and uses of petroleum products, pipeline overflow, breakage, and storage tank spill 5,6. Bioremediation of oil spills in tropical australia executive summary 15 an environmental research project chiefly with the australian maritime safety authority amsa, the great barrier reef marine park authority gbrmpa, and the energy research and development corporation erdc. Usually, mechanical removal of free oil is utilized as an effective. Bioremediation of crude oil contaminated soil using organic and inorganic fertilizers article pdf available in petroleum chemistry 6 march 2015 with 1,324 reads how we measure reads.
In the case of the exxon valdez spill, the largest and most thoroughly studied application of bioremediation, the application of fertilizer slow release or oleophilic increased rates of biodegradation 35 times. The acceptability or nonacceptability of bioremediation technologies may take time to establish. The role of bioremediation in cleaning up oil green living tips. Both the problems of oil spills and oily sludge can now be dealt with using teris oilzapper it is effective, lowcost, leaves behind no harmful sideeffects or residues and easy to use. Because of the patchiness of oil, an internally conserved compound, hopane, was critical for demonstrating the efficacy of. Bioremediation techniques have become a major mechanism for removing oil residues on the affected shorelines. 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. Crude oil spills correcting problems at an offsite location 11. I love the fact that these microbes can be used for bioremediation in hardtoreach polluted spots, she says. Bioremediation can occur on its own natural attenuation or intrinsic bioremediation or can be spurred on via the addition of fertilizers to increase the. Treated sawdust may help sop up, burn off arctic oil spills.
Bioremediation is considered one of the most control, marine oil spill control. Bioremediation of diesel oil contaminated soil and water. Comparative bioremediation of soils contaminated with diesel oil by natural attenuation, biostimulation and bioaugmentation fatima m. Biosparging, where air is pushed into soil to stimulate microbial bioremediation. Not only these but waste oil release and that of other petroleum products also constitute an oil spill. Pdf oil spills are probable accidents occurring mostly during. Caution required for gulf oil spill cleanup, bioremediation. View enhanced pdf access article on wiley online library html view. Bioremediation is the use of biological agents to remove or neutralize contaminants.
Bioremediation of oil spills submitted by anchal garg environment science 2016 2. Spills of crude oil and its derivatives can have short, medium and longterm negative consequences, and the elimination of pollutants by natural means may take years or even longer. Environmental protection agency prince william sound, alaska, site of the extensive bioremediation experiments carried out by the environmental protection agency, exxon, and the state of alaska. Many microorganisms, plants and fungi are able to bind, extract andor transform contaminants to create less toxic, healthier, and increasingly resilient and vital ecosystems. Since the 1980sbioremediation of oil spills and other hazardous wastes has received more consideration shannon and unterman, 1993. Bioremediation oil spills list of high impact articles. Cleans oil contaminated sites and postrefining oil residues oil spills into the aquatic and terrestrial environments are a not so uncommon occurrence. Pdf bioremediation of crude oil contaminated soil using. In addition, by combining heat application 80c, biosurfactant they are refined. Bioremediation is any process that uses decomposers and green plants, or their enzymes, to improve the condition of contaminated environments. Petroleum hydrocarbondegrading bacteria are ubiquitous in nature and can utilize these. Web alert bioremediation of oil spills an annotated selection of world wide web sites relevant to the topics in microbial biotechnology microbes cleaning up deepwater.
Dispersant formulations have been proposed that combine dispersion with the. Bacteria can be used to clean up oil spills in the ocean through bioremediation. However, there were species of psychrophilic bacteria present that were highly efficient in metabolizing hydrocarbons. The increasing number of marine oil spills asks for effective solutions for the environment. 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. Bioremediation is not your first response to a fresh oil spill if its a fresh spill it is important to. Bioremediation refers to the use of specific microorganisms to metabolize and remove harmful substances. Bioremediation of oil spills in tropical australia.
The technologies used for contaminant remediation include evaporation, burying and dispersion. Bioremediation of oil spills wackett 2012 microbial. 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. Changes in crude oil production and distribution have increased the incidence of oil spills throughout the world. Oil degrading microorganisms are indigenous to the world oceans, but environmental constraints limit their activity and so a bioremediation strategy must be tailored to local conditions. It is found that combining these traditional approaches with bioremediation can allow for a much more successful cleanup process while also reducing cost, as well. Pdf as the demand for liquid petroleum increases, the need for reliable and efficient oil spill cleanup techniques is inevitable. 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.
The microbes went to work with no human intervention, showing that intrinsic bioremediation can be effective for containing spills of petroleum products. The oil spill cleanup and recovery techniques are challenging and usually involve complex mechanical, chemical, and biological methods. Specific bacteria can be used to bioremediate specific contaminants, such as hydrocarbons, which are present in oil and gasoline. Study on the biodegradation of crude oil by free and. Epas recommendations are based on the preliminary results of a smallscale feasibility test the agency began in june using indigenous microorganisms to degrade spilled oil on the sound shoreline. Oil spills threaten the health of both human lifestyle and environmental ecosystems. This crude oil spills, alters the physicochemical properties of the soil 7, making it impossible for the soil to produce at. Gulf spill companies peddling microbial cures come calling on gulf coast. Oil spill bioremediation technologies epitomize modern environmental techniquesworking with natural processes to remove spilled oil from the environment while. 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. Currently, there are limited methods for cleaning up oil spill which have reached the shoreline or which have spread over a large area. This results in bioremediation of such wastelands and also control of climate change due to increased carbon sequestration by the remediated ecosystems.
Phytoremediation, uses the mechanisms of plants to decrease efficacy of pollutants. Spill sites can often be remediated by increasing the concentration of naturally occurring bacteria in the ground. These liquids are known as oil spill remediation liquid or bioactive remediation enhancers. Recommendations offered include encouraging asphalthene biodegradation by combining heat application 80c, biosurfactantthermophilic. Oil spills require quick action so that they cause as little damage as possible. Some of these methods, like in situ burning or the use of dispersal agents, do a lot of harm themselves.
Bioremediation of oilspilled sites through seeding of. Recover free fluids recycle back to the stock tank if possible use an absorbent to get fluids that cant be recovered dispose of properly it is to your benefit to bioremediate only. One regulatory change that could help stimulate development of both bioremediation and other oil spill response technologies is for the federal government to allow occasional controlled oil spills for research and development purposes. 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. Hindu college, nagercoil, tamil nadu, india key words. Bioremediation clears up these oil spills by application of microbes.
Costeffective alternative to clean environmental messes. The sun oil pipeline spill in ambler, pennsylvania spurred the first commercial usage of in situ bioremediation in 1972 to remove hydrocarbons from contaminated sites. Bioremediation techniques, category definitions, and mode of action in marine and freshwater environments originally compiled to update and revise us epanrt bioremediation fact sheet and rrt iv bioremediation spill response guidance, types of bioremediation section and bioremediation response plan appendix g, in coordination. Bioremediation for marine oil spills 21 a real spill is not the best strategy. For example, the deep water horizon oil spill accident in the gulf of mexico. 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.
Bioremediation of unconventional oil contaminated ecosystems. Oil spills often cause destructive effects on aquatic and land ecosystems. He used microbes to consume an oil spill along the coast of santa barbara, california in the late 1960s. Oct 19, 2015 using microbes to clean up oil spills. May 17, 2005 a hope for oil spill bioremediation date. Bioremediation of crude oil contaminated soil using. There are various oil adsorbents are considered to be a common technique for the gathering of oil spill. Bioremediation technology was used to degrade marine oil spill. Bioremediation of oil spilled sites through seeding of naturally adapted pseudomonas putida p. Comparative bioremediation of soils contaminated with diesel. The contamination cleanup strategy called bioremediation using naturally occurring or genetically modified microbes to clean up our messesis gaining steam, as scientists devise new ways to. In fact, it may be costeffective to combine contaminated soils from multiple small spills. Bioremediation of oil spills using microorganism science.
When an oil spillage occurs it leads to the destruction of that ecosystem and its inhabitants. Bioremediation, contaminants, monitoring and saturation received 16 march 2011. May 04, 2010 a bioremediation expert says extreme caution must be used in cleaning up the fragile gulf coast ecosystem in the aftermath of the deepwater horizon oil spill. As recently as 1989, exxon oil tankers spill in the alaskan region resulted in large scale contamination of the sea and the beaches with the consequent death of marine animals and threatening of human health. Successful bioremediation of a major marine oil spill has been achieved based upon addition of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers. These organisms remove oil seepage and spilled oil from the marine and terrestrial environment. The example of dispersant development may provide a relevant analogy for bioremediation in the immediate future. Fortunately, unlike higher organisms that are adversely impacted by oil spills, microorganisms are able to. Bioremediation liquids can be used on soil and water that has been contaminated with hydrocarbons and phenols. Bioremediation, marine oil spills, biodegradation, exxon valdez introduction bioremediation can be a costeffective technology see figure 1, that is often used to treat oil spills in all types of environmental media including soils, groundwater, and surface water both freshwater and marine. Bioremediation for marine oil spills princeton university.
This oil spill bioremediation lab was for students to. 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. Treated sawdust may help sop up, burn off arctic oil spills federal researchers looking for ways to contain petroleum spills in frigid arctic waters are investigating whether a powder form of humble sawdust can provide a solution. Bioremediation technique classes are the prescribed physical activities or strategies used in microbial remedies.
A patent was filed in 1974 by richard raymond, reclamation of hydrocarbon contaminated ground waters, which provided the basis for the commercialization of in situ bioremediation. Petroleum biodegradation and oil spill bioremediation. Introduction bioremediation is the use of microorganism metabolism to remove pollutants. The aftermath of recent high impact oil spill incidents e. Enhancing bioremediation of dieselfuel contaminated soil in a boreal climate. Therefore, the two main approaches to oil spill bioremediation are.
Jul 24, 2016 oil spills threaten the health of both human lifestyle and environmental ecosystems. 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. Bioremediation is an economical and safe method for cleaning up oil spills and bioremediating soils contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons and dangerous organic compounds. Microbial degradation of cold lake blend and western canadian.