Media Releases

Supercharging oil-eaters

Tarleton State University-FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July19, 2010

STEPHENVILLE, TEXAS-With the Deepwater Horizon blowout temporarily plugged, scientists are turning their attention to reducing the potential damage to coastal ecosystems.

Joining in the effort are researchers at Tarleton State University's Texas Institute for Applied Environmental Research (TIAER) Laboratory and its engineering department. They have partnered with fellow researchers at Texas A&M University-Galveston's marine biology department and private industry to work on a solution.

On April 20, BP's Deepwater Horizon oil well sank resulting in the immediate spillage of 20 million gallons of crude oil and an ensuing 90,000 barrels of oil into the ocean daily. On July 12, BP successfully attached a cap and temporarily stopped the gushing oil.

"Even if the oil stops flowing," said Mark Murphy, Laboratory Manager for TIAER, "it will continue to wash up into coastal marshes and estuaries for at least a year. These wetland areas are the breeding ground for a majority of ocean seafood and animal life."

The researchers have teamed up with FMC Corporation and FMC Technologies to investigate using augmented bioremediation (environmental cleanup by enhanced biological agents) of oil from the spill that has spread into coastal wetlands and marshes lining the Gulf of Mexico.

FMC Corporation provided a seed grant to start research, and other funding sources are being sought.

Tarleton's researchers will test oil-eating bacteria mixed with nutrients and an oxidizing agent in the TIAER lab. The oxidant will "supercharge" the bacteria and allow the bacteria to remediate the oil more rapidly and efficiently.

Once the initial lab tests are complete, the team will continue testing the three or four best product combinations on mesocosms, aquariums and terrariums simulating the coastal marshland environment at TAMU-Galveston. After the lab studies, researchers will plot off areas of coastal marshes and try the best treatment mixtures shown in the lab compared to untreated areas.

Because booms and skimmers can't be used in wetland areas and boats would destroy important plants and nesting grounds, the scientists plan to apply the bio-product mixtures with a crop duster airplane. Core samples of sediment and water column will be collected by helicopter and tested at TIAER and TAMU-Galveston.

In addition to testing the oil residue and bacteria, short- and long-term monitoring of the marsh ecology, plants and animals will be performed to determine how they recover.

"Different strains of oil-eating bacteria work better on different crude mixtures, so efficiency testing must be performed," said Murphy. "Even if left totally alone, the bacteria that are naturally present would eventually take over and remediate the oil, but on a much longer time scale. The goal is to return the ecology back to as close to normal as soon as possible, perhaps with the majority of the oil gone in weeks instead of years."

Final results should provide the oil service industry with methods for effective remediation of spills and ways to pre-treat oil waste from plant operations to save operational costs and the environment.

Sudarshan Kurwadkar, Ph.D., assistant professor of environmental engineering, and Murphy will head Tarleton's research efforts.

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Tarleton State University
A member of The Texas A&M University System since 1917

Office of Media Relations
Paul Canada, Communications Specialist
Phone: 254-968-9553 E-mail: canada@tarleton.edu
Address: Box T-0840, Stephenville, Texas 76402

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