Assessment of crude oil biodegradation in arctic seashore sediments: effects of temperature, salinity, and crude oil concentration

Abstract

The expected increase in offshore oil exploration and production in the Arctic may lead to crude oil spills along arctic shorelines. To evaluate the potential effectiveness of bioremediation to treat such spills, oil spill bioremediation in arctic sediments was simulated in laboratory microcosms containing beach sediments from Barrow (Alaska), spiked with North Slope Crude, and incubated at varying temperatures and salinities. Biodegradation was measured via respiration rates (CO2 production); volatilization was quantified by gas chromatography/mass spectrophotometry (GC/MS) analysis of hydrocarbons sorbed to activated carbon, and hydrocarbons remaining in the sediment were quantified by GC/flame ionization detector (FID). Higher temperature leads to increased biodegradation by naturally occurring microorganisms, while the release of volatile organic compounds was similar at both temperatures. Increased salinity had a small positive impact on crude oil removal. At higher crude oil dosages, volatilization increased, however CO2 production did not. While only a small percentage of crude oil was completely biodegraded, a larger percentage was volatilized within 6-9 weeks.

Bacterial Community Response in Deep Faroe-Shetland Channel Sediments Following Hydrocarbon Entrainment With and Without Dispersant Addition

“…A deep water oil spill in the FSC would likely have profound impacts on benthic ecosystems due to its unique oceanographic conditions (Bett, 2012). Biodegradation rates are reduced at low temperatures (Sharma and Schiewer, 2016;Ferguson et al, 2017). Additionally, low temperatures will enhance the extent of adsorption of hydrocarbons to sediments (Delle Site, 2001;Zhao et al, 2015).…”

Biodegradation of petroleum by bacteria isolated from fishes of Indian Ocean

“…The survival of the bacterial strains against the percentage of crude oil was shown in Figure 1. Previous studies also reported various bacterial adaptation to different concentrations of crude oil (Li et al, 2015;Sharma and Schiewer, 2016). (Zhao et al, 2011) studied selection of functional consortium for the remediation of oil contaminated soil.…”

A Multifaceted Approach to Advance Oil Spill Modeling and Physical Oceanographic Research at the United States Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

“…The physical properties of different oil types determine how they behave and weather and ultimately their fate and interaction with the environment and organisms. Sharma and Schiewer (2016) [159] investigated the effects of temperature, salinity, and crude oil concentration on biodegradation of oil in Arctic seashore sediments. Their results showed a quick initial removal of hydrocarbons by volatilization, but microbial biodegradation of crude oil was low, especially at the lower temperature.…”