S-200 (bioremediation)
Oil Gone Easy S-200 is the retail name of S-200, a bioremediation product used to clean up oil spills. The product contains an oleophilic super nutrient that attracts microorganisms in the local environment which convert hydrocarbons (such as oil and fuel) into water and other harmless byproducts. Oil Gone Easy was used to clean up the Prestige oil spill off the coast of Spain in 2002. The product is on the approved list 40 CFR Section 300.910 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency authorized for federal onsite coordinators for use in case of oil spills.[1] It is also approved for use by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection,[2] New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection,[3] New York Department of Environmental Protection,[4] and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.[5] The product was developed by International Environmental Products which has been working since 2000 to improve the bioremediation treatments used to clean up oil pollution.[6]
Biomediation
Bioremediation is a process that uses microorganisms, fungi, green plants or their enzymes to return the natural environment altered by contaminants to its original condition. Bioremediation may be employed to attack specific soil contaminants, such as degradation of chlorinated hydrocarbons by bacteria. An example of a more general approach is the cleanup of oil spills by the addition of nitrate and/or sulfate fertilisers to facilitate the decomposition of crude oil by indigenous or exogenous bacteria.
Bioremediation technology using microorganisms was reportedly invented by George M. Robinson. He was the assistant county petroleum engineer for Santa Maria, California. During the 1960's, he spent his spare time experimenting with dirty jars and various mixes of microbes. Bioremediation technologies can be generally classified as in situ or ex situ. In situ bioremediation involves treating the contaminated material at the site while ex situ involves the removal of the contaminated material to be treated elsewhere. However heavy metals such as cadmium and lead are not readily absorbed or captured by organisms. [7]. The heavy metals in the harvested biomass may be further concentrated by incineration or even recycled for industrial use. The elimination of a wide range of pollutants and wastes from the environment requires increasing our understanding of the relative importance of different pathways and regulatory networks to carbon flux in particular environments and for particular compounds and they will certainly accelerate the development of bioremediation technologies and biotransformation processes.[8]
There are a number of cost/efficiency advantages to bioremediation, which can be employed in areas that are inaccessible without excavation. For example, hydrocarbon spills (specifically, petrol spills) or certain chlorinated solvents may contaminate groundwater, and introducing the appropriate electron acceptor or electron donor amendment, as appropriate, may significantly reduce contaminant concentrations after a lag time allowing for acclimation. This is typically much less expensive than excavation followed by disposal elsewhere, incineration or other ex situ treatment strategies, and reduces or eliminates the need for "pump and treat", a common practice at sites where hydrocarbons have contaminated clean groundwater.
Prestige oil spill
The Prestige was an oil tanker whose sinking in 2002 off the Galician coast caused a large oil spill. The spill polluted thousands of kilometers of coastline and more than one thousand beaches on the Spanish and French coast, as well as causing damage to the local fishing industry. The spill is the largest environmental disaster in Spain's history.
In 2006, a field bioremediation assay was conducted by the Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona on the use of oleophilic fertilizer Oil Gone Easy S-200 ten months after the Prestige heavy fuel-oil spill on a beach of the Cantabrian coast in northern Spain. The field survey indicated that S200 enhanced the biodegradation rate, particularly of high molecular weight n-alkanes, alkylcyclohexanes, and benzenes, and alkylated PAHs. The most significant molecular bioremediation indicators were the depletion of diasteranes and C-27 sterane components.[9]
Usage
S-200 usually comes in the form of a white liquid that can be sprayed on oil spills. A ratio of 1:1 in terms of mass is usually used when spraying. For example, if the weight of the spill is estimated to be 1 kg, then the amount of liquid that needs to be sprayed is 1 kg. Experts recommend that the oil spill be contained and cleaned up as far as possible before use on spills. Since S-200 makes use of local bacteria, the product does not have any environmental side effects.
See also
References
- ^ "USEPA" (PDF). 24 July 2002. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
- ^ "USEPA" (PDF). 24 July 2002. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
- ^ "USEPA" (PDF). 24 July 2002. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
- ^ "USEPA" (PDF). 24 July 2002. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
- ^ "USEPA" (PDF). 24 July 2002. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
- ^ "IEP Develops cost-effective oil pollution treatment". Industrial Environment. July 1, 2005. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
- ^ Meagher, RB (2000). "Phytoremediation of toxic elemental and organic pollutants". Current Opinion In Plant Biology. 3 (2): 153–162. doi:10.1016/S1369-5266(99)00054-0. PMID 10712958.
- ^ Diaz E (editor) (2008). Microbial Biodegradation: Genomics and Molecular Biology (1st ed. ed.). Caister Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-904455-17-2.
{{cite book}}:|author=has generic name (help);|edition=has extra text (help) - ^ "Enhanced Biodegradation of a Heavy Fuel Oil under Field Conditions by the Use of an Oleophilic Fertilizer". Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona. 10 March, 2006. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
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