Biotechnology And Its Applications : Research Notes

Oil Pollution in Earth’s oceans is a tremendous problem the environment, organisms, and humans are facing today. Pollution from petroleum products are extremely toxic to many marine organisms, including microorganisms that are the support of the aquatic food chain. Oil is a substance that can disperse under and across the surface of water for thousands of meters. Shorelines are left covered with this oil and it can be hard to remove (Friedland). The United States depends enormously on oil. On average, the United States uses 793 million gallons of oil per day, with a cost of $2 billion dollars each day. It is the world’s biggest oil consumer. The combined oil consumption of Japan, Russia, China, and India are far way less than that of the U.S (“The Great Invisible Discussion Guide”). Burning oil produces a big amount of greenhouse gases. It is “the largest single fuel of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S” (“The Great Invisible Discussion Guide”). Having dependence on oil can have significant costs, including an increased risk of oil spills. One of the biggest oil leaks occurred in 2010. It happened in an offshore platform on a BP operation in the Gulf of Mexico (Friedland).

Bioremediation is the process in which microorganisms such as bacteria, yeasts, molds, and filamentous fungi are introduced into the spills. The introduction of these microorganisms assists in altering and metabolizing various chemical compounds present in oil. When the microorganisms metabolize these certain compounds it significantly reduces the time it takes for the oil biodegradation to occur.

There are so many reasons why pollution in Oceans water are the worst in the world. Oil is a Natural resource that most people use, it is found on certain areas in the world such as the bottom of Oceans. Oils spills can be involved as the result of deliberate sabotage or illegal dumping. Depending on the location and the condition, they have several techniques can be used to clean up the oil spills. 37 million gallons of oils is spilled in the Oceans each year. Most consequences of water pollution is caused by mishandling of oil products Proper disposal and recycling of used oils can go along way to help to prevent oil pollution in the water. In conclusion oil spills are so dangerous animals and maybe peolpe could die of oil pollution in waters.

ioremediation refers to the use of organisms, particularly microorganisms, to transform or degrade a contaminant to make it harmless (Antizar-Ladislao 2010). One well- characterized example is the bioremediation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill off the Alaska coast; the treatment has largely eliminated pollutants and wastes along hundreds of miles of coastline (Atlas and Hazen 2011). Currently, bioremediation is regarded as a cost-effective remediation technology potentially appropriate for large polluted areas, such as contaminated water and soil. Its potential safety and efficiency will certainly accelerate further development of the

Understanding how oil spills often happen makes it easy to see that not only are they messy and dangerous, they are also inevitable. They can be lessened though. For years we have been told that drilling for oil was safe and that the chances of a catastrophic oil spill happening was too small to worry about. This was

For instance, Rufe, who is a scientist, states that we have not developed an approach that can clean more than 3 to 5 percent of the spilled oil” (Mufson, 2012). Furthermore, In the Gulf of Mexico, although 205.8 million gallons of oil have been spilled, just 51.8 million gallons have been collected, which equals approximately 25 percent. Moreover, in order to clean the Gulf from the oil spills almost 2 million gallons of toxic dispersants were used. Unfortunately, the toxic dispersants did not truly purify the spilled oil, but fractured them into tinier particles. As a consequence, that may make the oil more harmful for some ocean animals and plants ( A Center for Biological Diversity Report, 2008). However, with the increasing of offshore oil drilling accidents, and with no solution to solve the problem efficiently. The hazardous impact is not going to affect only on animals and plants. It might affect people who depend on the polluted area for food, ecological enrichment, and entertainment ( A Center for Biological Diversity Report,

Despite the positive development of oil and gas industry in this last decade, there is something more valuable have been put on the line. The environment needs to pay for every single mistake made by the human. One of the greatest mistakes in humankind history is an oceanic oil spill. It has become a major environmental problem that the world is facing right now. History has shown how this problem could go. From the first major commercial spill of 1967 in the United Kingdom, up to the most recent one, at BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig, that leaked thousands barrel of oil into the Gulf of Mexico since April 2010. Most large-scale oil spills have been disastrous and the marine wildlife is still recovering. Hence, the tension for a better cleanup technology increases.

During oil spills many animals, and ecosystems are destroyed. Many issues happen when the oil spill in 40 miles away or less . When this happens the oil gets on many plants, fish, and on other animals and sometimes animals drink the water and eat the fish. When this happens many animals are seriously injured or even killed. In some occasions, like the Exxon Valdez oil spill it can even go on shore, up streams and kill even more animals like sea otters, sea lions and whales. In other oils spills like the Bp Deep horizon oil spill of the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil got caught in the loop current and then it eventually stopped right of the coast of Cuba.

The term ‘biotechnology’ derives from three Greek words which are bios(life), technos(technology) and logos(thinking). According to United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, biotechnology means any technological applications that uses biological systems, living organism, or derivatives thereof, to make o modify products or processes for specific use. However, the American Chemical Society defines biotechnology as the application of biological organisms, systems, or processes by various industries to learning about the science of life and the improvement of the value of materials and organisms such as pharmaceuticals, crops and lifestock. Basically, this technology is found due to evolution of certain industry. For instance, biotechnology

The oil also has a physical and physiological effect including irritation, inflammation, or necrosis of the skin, chemical burns, ingestion of oil/dispersants can lead to inflammation, ulcers, bleeding, as well as possible damage to liver, kidneys, and brain tissue. It can also cause disfunction of the immune and reproductive system. The wildlife can become physiologically stressed, their physical condition will ultimately decline, and some may even die. The oil spill has additionally had an extensive effect on the ecosystem as a whole. An ecosystem can be defined as a biological environment consisting of all the organism living in a particular area, as well as the non-living physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact. Experts predict that the ecosystem could require years or even decades to fully recover since there is a chance of biomagnification. Biomagnification occurs once a PBT(Persistent Bioaccumalative substances) have piled up in one part of the ecosystem the substance becomes concentrated from one link in the food web to the next. It can affect entire populations and threaten biodiversity in “insidious, sub-lethal” ways. In addition to the possibility of biomagnification the oil causes

Literature suggest that the essential management practices to follow when responding to an Oil Spill is to dispose of oil spill debris with the aim of

The method of bioremediation being used in this paper is by mixing bioaugmentation which is when the subsurface of contaminated soil or groundwater have specific cultured organisms added to allow the process of biodegrading to occur (Regenesis, 2017). Biostimulation is where contaminated soil or groundwater will have a limiting nutrient added to enhance microbial growth within the contaminated source (Adams, 2015) and comparing it to natural attenuation which, is when a natural process within the soil helps to meditate and clean the contaminants within the soil or groundwater (Fiedler, 2017).

Biofuel is a fuel that contained energy from once living organisms. Biofuel is created by biomass conversion. Biomass is recently deceased organisms. These recently deceased organisms are converted into a substance called biomass that contains the energy. The biomass will be converted into a fuel using one of these methods: thermal conversion, chemical conversion and biochemical conversion. Thermal conversion is also known as thermal depolymerization, a process using high heat to produce biofuel. Chemical conversion uses various chemicals to produce biofuel. Finally, biochemical conversion uses enzymes, microbes, and catalysts to make biofuel.

Over 8000 animals were reported dead 6 months after the spill, including many that were on the endangered species list (7). Subsequently, seafood prices increased affecting restaurants and supermarkets. People abstained from going to beaches covered in oil, water sports and other aquatic attractions which meant that all organisations involved in tourism such as hotels, tour operators, restaurants and boat rental companies were affected (1). Furthermore, the method of cleaning up the oil by “in-situ burning” (burning oil in a contained area on the surface of the water), had adverse effects on the environment as the burning off of the oil led to mutations and increased mortality due to pollution.

Oil spills can impact the environment greatly. Since the oil boats are on the ocean if the break and start to leak it goes into the ocean where it can harm the ocean and those that make their home in it. “That spill caused an immediate and significant impact to the ecosystem, with sightings of birds and turtles washed up on beaches covered with oil, as well as an increase in the deaths of other marine life” (Sinclair, 2017). The oil spill in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico was the biggest since Deepwater Horizon. It caused harm to the ecosystem around it because technology came in so it could pump oil out of the ground under the ocean. There is no way to know the impact that oil spill and really every oil spill has had on the marine ecosystem.