Bacteria dose for Paradip oil spill
New Delhi   25-Sep-2009
<b>IndianOil set to unleash eco-friendly zappers to eat up slick</b> IndianOil is rusfting a team armed with oil-eating natural bacteria to tackle the oil spillage at Paradip from the ship Black Rose that sank near the port on September 9. Mr. Anand Kumar, Director (R&D) said IndianOil has developed special bacteria at its R&D centre in Faridabad, which feed on oil and reduce it to eco-friendly natural soil. These "oil zappers" have been developed to eat up the oily sludge that is left as waste in the company's refineries after crude oil has been refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and LPG. Mr. Kumar said the bacteria are very effective on land. "We are confident that portions of the oil slick that have reached the shoreline will be neutralised in a matter of days through this "biomediation" technology," he added. IndianOil has also developed a strain of bacteria that can operate under saline conditions in the laboratory. However, these have not been tried out at sea. So, the current crisis will also provide the team with an opportunity to test the bacteria on the spillage that is floating on the sea and has not come to the shore. The Indianoil team will first assess the situation and see how much of the bacteria are required. The bio-reactors at the Faridabad R&D centre will then be used to produce the requisite quantity. Samples of the oil slick will also be taken and sent back to the R&D centre to improve the effectiveness of the strains while the operation to contain the oil spillage is on. He said IndianOil's R&D centre has vast experience in containing and controlling oil sludge. Around 70,000 tonnes of oil sludge has been treated successfully at the IndianOil refineries since 1995 when the technology was first introduced. Kumar has informed Paradip Port Trust Chairman Mr. K. Raghuramaiah that the IndianOil team will reach Paradip on Friday. IndianOil had got in touch with the port authorities as fears of a major environmental hazard have arisen over the oil leaking from the ship. This eco-friendly technology developed jointly by IndianOil and TERI has won a UK award in 2003- Efforts are also being planned to contain the spread of oil on the high seas by restricting it to particular manageable spots. This "oilivorous" technology consisting of natural bacteria is safer to handle as it has no disease-causing organisms. The technology available works extremely well on oil spillage on land as the specialised bacteria cultured in the laboratory remain localised and attached to the targeted molecules of hydrocarbon. However; extending the same application on aquatic or marine systems where the conditions are altogether different in terms of nature of medium (microbes doesn't thrive and survive effectively in saline water) requires a more focused approach and specialised application. Currently, IndianOil and TERI are working on an Indo-Australian joint project to extend the scope of the technology to aquatic and marine systems as India has a large coastal belt and numerous seaports that handle transportation of crude oil and petroleum products.