Remediation of oil spills in temperate and tropical coastal marine environments

Abstract

Oil is the world's primary source of non-renewable energy, and it has also contaminated ocean coastlines due to spills. It is therefore important to have remediation treatments that are both effective, and ecologically not harmful. Current in situ bioremediation methods consist primarily of biostimulation, through addition of nutrients, and bioaugmentation, the addition of hydrocarbon degrading microorganisms. The purpose of this article is to discuss successful and unsuccessful remediation through the use of biostimulation, bioaugmentation, or a combination of both. As microbial treatments are capable of enhancing coastal oil remediation in temperate and tropical settings, the success of a particular remediation approach will be determined based on the type and amount of oil, type of soil and/or sediment, microbial inoculants and the often changing physical, chemical and biological environmental conditions. Environmental factors and limitations will be discussed as to why certain bioremediation events were successful while others were not.

Bioremediation of Petroleum-Polluted Soil Using Biosurfactant Producing Bacteria, Pseudomonas sp.

“…also shows maximum enzyme activity at temperature 37°C and pH 7. The microbial treatments are capable of oil remediation in temperate and tropical regions (Mercer and Trevors, 2011). The temperature specific enzymatic activity of lipase is maximum at relatively high 37°C ensures the activity of this enzyme as a bioremediate to restore oil contaminated sites of equatorial and temperate regions.…”

Bioremediation of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) by Bioaugmentation and Biostimulation in Water with Floating Oil Spill Containment Booms as Bioreactor Basin

“…A variety of methods to control oil spills in marine shorelines and freshwater ecosystems have been established but still the problem exists. These methods were closely researched and outlined in several technical documents [ 25 , 30 , 33 , 43 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ]. Floating booms and barriers, oil collection materials, oil collection vessels, absorbing materials, chemical dispersants, surfactants, physical degradation, biodegradation and on-site oil combustion are the most common methods and techniques for oil containment and removal at sea [ 30 ].…”

Bioremediation of sediments contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: the technological innovation patented review

“…Bioaugmentation strategies are based on the addition of efficient degrading microbial strains in order to boost PAH biodegradation (Hou et al 2005;Tyagi et al 2011). Different studies have demonstrated the potential of specific microbial strains for PAH degradation in environmental matrices including sediments (Mapelli et al 2017;Mercer and Trevors 2011;Perelo 2010). Usually, under the patents describing bioaugmentation approaches, bacteria strains were the most commonly used among microbes for the formulation of bioremediation products as illustrated in Fig.…”