Oil spills and Marine Biotechnology

* Contain many types of oil, including crude oil, refined petroleum, and oil mixed with waste.

* Immiscible with water, so oil can remain on surface for lengthy periods of time.

* Can greatly affect the environment and biological web in location where spill occurred.

2. Effects of oil spills are:

* Smothering of plants and animals due to oil’s stickiness and buoyancy.

* Disruption of nutrient cycle due to large increase in hydrocarbons.

* Toxicity due to water soluble portions in oil can lead to mutations in organisms that stunt growth, metabolism, reproduction, and other biological functions.

3. Clean-up of oil spills:

a. Mechanical response –

* Booms and other physical devices aid in clean up.

* Oil is collected into confined area to prevent spread, physically recovered by skimming surface with boats or vacuums

b. Chemical response –

* Oil broken down with chemicals into constituents, dispersed to decrease harm to wildlife.

* In-situ burning involves igniting the oil while still on the ocean surface.

Both approaches leave pollutants and are quite costly, so a better method is desired by environmentalists, corporations, and governments.

B. Possible solution to Oil Spills (Biotechnological way) –

* Certain marine microorganisms have the unique ability to break down hydrocarbons to access energy stored in bonds; they are capable of inserting an oxygen atom into hydrocarbon to form a degradable alcohol or carboxylic acid.

* First tested on a large scale to some success in the Exxon-Valdez spill in 1989.

* Microorganisms are especially good at cleaning up last stages of an oil spill, attacking persistent compounds that other techniques failed to break down.