Abstract
The environmental and economic ramifications of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) incident have motivated research on hydrocarbon releases in deep-sea environments. The main objective of this contribution is to provide the basic design and modes of operation of a bioreactor operating under high pressure (typically 100–200 bar) emulating hydrocarbon releases at depths up to 2,000 m. The bioreactor enables the cultivation of microbes under conditions emulating the movement of the side plume of hydrocarbon droplets at a constant depth observed in the DWH incident as well as the behavior of ascending oil droplets in the presence of microbes and dispersants.
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Acknowledgements
This work was funded by FP-7 PROJECT No. 312139 “Integrated Biotechnological Solutions for Combating Marine Oil Spills” – KILL SPILL
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© 2016 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Nikolopoulou, M., Kalogerakis, N. (2016). Bioreactor Design to Emulate Deep-Sea Hydrocarbon Releases Including Formation of Gas Hydrates. In: McGenity, T., Timmis, K., Nogales , B. (eds) Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology Protocols. Springer Protocols Handbooks. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/8623_2016_222
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/8623_2016_222
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