Helping nature clean up oil spills
Journal Article
·
· Fueloil and Oil Heat with Air Conditioning
OSTI ID:525848
- Petro-Green, Inc., Dallas, TX (United States)
Oil spills are nothing new. In fact, for millions of years crude oil has been seeping up to the Earth`s surface, and for all that time Mother Nature has been on the job with microbes, or bacteria, to harmlessly convert the oil to water and carbon dioxide gas. Not all bacteria are bad. True, some can make us sick, however, the good ones help us bake bread, brew beer, and even clean up oil spills by a process known as biodegradation. Oil and bacteria don`t easily get together because oil and water don`t mix and bacteria prefer to stay in water. After some oil tankers spills in the English Channel 25 years ago, major oil companies (Arco, BP, Exxon, and others) developed oil dispersant products-specialized chemicals that make oils and sea water mix. The simplest examples of similar wetting agents are soaps and detergents. Now, thanks to dispersants, the natural bacteria at sea can easily get to the oil and the normally slow biodegradation process goes rather quickly.
- OSTI ID:
- 525848
- Journal Information:
- Fueloil and Oil Heat with Air Conditioning, Journal Name: Fueloil and Oil Heat with Air Conditioning Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 55; ISSN 1060-9725; ISSN FOHCEU
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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