Bioremediation of Oil Spill Cleanup: Case Studies of Two Major Oil Spills

Abstract

Oil spills are possible accidents that occur sometimes naturally or most often during the transporting oil through pipelines, tanks, etc., or accidents such as blowouts that lead to an adverse impact on the environment and the living beings on it. Various physical, chemical, and biological approaches are utilized to counteract this impact. The Office of Technology Assessment estimates that following a big leak, current mechanical technologies often only recover 10–15% of the oil. Biological methods include bioremediation in which microorganisms or some nutrients are used to degrade the pollutants or the hydrocarbons in soil or water and convert it into less harmful components. Because petroleum hydrocarbons occur naturally in all marine settings, many different microbes have evolved the ability to utilize hydrocarbons as sources of carbon and energy for growth. Bioremediation is a more environmentally friendly method and more cost effective. Bioaugmentation and biostimulation are the two main approaches to oil spill bioremediation. This study highlights the application of bioremediation techniques for oil spill cleanup of two major marine oil spills. Since its successful use during the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster and BP Deepwater Horizon blowout, in 2010, it has been seen that the alternative treatment for oil removal in these cases could be bioremediation. Natural and expedited biodegradation drastically lowered oil concentrations during the Exxon Valdez and BP Deepwater Horizon oil incidents. Even though they cannot be seen with the human eye, the bacteria did contribute more to the removal of the oil spills that had spread across the environment.