Clean-up. oil spills

The essential task of modern biotechnology is to change an organism s genetic material (DNA) to allow for the production of a useful protein. The gene for the protein must first be isolated and engineered so that it will drive production of the protein. The product may be the protein, or it may be a modified organism, such as a bacterium that cleans up oil spills, a tree that removes mercury from contaminated sod, or a virus that treats cancer. 

How could these bacteria be used to clean up oil spills What would be some of the limiting factors to the efficiency of this process ... 

Bacteria have been developed which selectively feed upon and degrade specific materials (see section 22.7). The best known are those seeded to clean up oil spills. Research is continuing to develop bacteria strains to consume other products. If the contaminant is susceptible to such bacteria, they can be injected into the polluted zone, generally in an aqueous medium. If the contaminant can be neutralized by other chemicals, these can also be pumped into the polluted zone. The degradation process can be monitored over time by periodic sampling and testing. 

The average cost of cleaning up oil spills worldwide varies from 20 to 200 per litre of oil spilled. 

As most oil companies or firms that handle oil do not have staff dedicated to cleaning up oil spills, several companies in the same area often join forces to form cooperatives. By pooling resources and expertise, these oil spill cooperatives can then develop effective and financially viable response programs. The cooperative purchases and maintains containment, cleanup, and disposal equipment and provides the training for its use. 

As the effects of oil and its behaviour vary in different habitats, cleanup techniques and priorities are tailored to the habitat in which the spill takes place. Returning the habitat as much and as quickly as possible to its original condition is always a high priority when cleaning up oil spills. 

On agricultural land, the priority in cleaning up oil spills is to restore land use, e.g., crop production. In this habitat, oil is more likely to penetrate deeply into the subsurface as plowing the fields creates macropores that petroleum products and crude oils can rapidly penetrate. As oil penetrates deeper into dry agricultural land, the danger of groundwater contamination is greater than in other habitats. 

Polyethylene — A polymer (substance composed of very large molecules that are multiples of simpler chemical units) of the alkene, ethylene. Polyethylene is highly resistant to chemicals, and has low water absorption and good insulating properties and can be manufactured in a number of forms. Polyethylene also has high oleophilic properties and has been used successfully as a sorbent for cleaning up oil spills. (See also Alkenes, Oleophilic surface skimmers, Synthetic organic sorbents.)... 

How could these bacteria be used to clean up oil spills What... 

Oil spills. Shredded rubber tires in combination with polystyrene scrap have such a good capacity for absorbing oil that they have been suggested for cleaning up oil spills. After absorbing oil, the mixture is heated to form an asphaltic material that was claimed to be useful for road building... 

Many surfactant mixtures for treating oil spills have been promoted in the past two decades to overcome the extensive problems and costs of physical recovery. Of particular interest to this volume are dispersants, surface-washing agents, and emulsion breakers and inhibitors. All of these are formulations containing surfactants as active ingredients. Dispersants, in particular, promise to reduce the efforts and costs of cleaning up oil spills. 

Due to their remarkably poor chemical reactivity, it may be surprising that alkanes have a place in biological systems. Two examples are the formation of alkanes during lipid peroxidation and the use of microorganisms to digest and remove hydrocarbons, as in cleaning up oil spills. 

The potential of raw law value cotton fibers, to remove used oil can be used to provide an efficient, easily deployable method of cleaning up oil spills and recovering of the oil. It is important to provide a safe system for oil removal and recovery. It is proven that the loose low grade cotton fibers and the pad have an excellent commercial potential as a sorbent for oil. 

Sorption. A term including both adsorption and absorption. Sorption is basic to many processes used to remove gasous and particulate pollutants from an emission and to clean up oil spills. 

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