Breakthroughs In Oil Spill Cleanup Using Bacteria

After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, researchers set to work exploring different methods that could be used to clean up other spills that may occur in the future. Scientists found that certain marine bacteria would actually eat the oil that had been released during the spill.

These bacteria work on different chemicals. Oceanospirillales broke down alkanes after the oil spill, and Rhodospiralles and Cycloclasticus worked on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. By using a combination of the three, scientists had success with oil spill cleanup.

Normally, dispersants are used after an oil spill to break down the oil into small droplets. However, recent research has found that these oil-eating bacteria work more efficiently without dispersants being used. Scientists are continuing to research the role these bacteria could have on a wider scale. For more information, please see the full article.