Petroleum biodegradation and oil spill bioremediation
- Univ. of Louisville, KY (United States)
Bioremediation for the cleanup of different oil spills has employed either the application of fertilizer to enhance the abilities of the indigenous hydrocarbon-utilizing bacteria or the addition of naturally occurring adapted microbial hydrocarbon degraders by seeding. Laboratory experiments that closely model environmental conditions are helpful for demonstrating the potential applicability of bioremediation. Field demonstrations of enhanced numbers of hydrocarbon degraders and depressed levels of oxygen are useful indicators of hydrocarbon degradation activities, but chemical analyses of residues ultimately are necessary to establish that bioremediation enhances the natural rates of oil biodegradation. Owing to the patchy distribution of oil in the environment following a spill, an internal standard that is not biodegraded is necessary to serve as a reference for statistical analyses of compositional changes that can be attributed to biodegradation. Well designed and extensive experiments, with appropriate controls, are necessary to establish the efficacy of oil spill bioremediation. Only in a few cases has there been rigorous proof of the effectiveness of bioremediation. As a result fertilization has been shown to be an effective bioremediation treatment of oil spills, with rate enhancements of about 5 times, but seeding has not yet been shown to work in the field.
- OSTI ID:
- 141334
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-930304--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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