Biodegradation of Dispersed Weathered Endicott Oil in Prince William Sound Water
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 9
Abstract
This paper investigates biodegradation of physically dispersed oil (WAF) and chemically dispersed oil (CEWAF). Two salinities are considered: low (6.5‰) and high salinity (29‰), and for each salinity two nutrient conditions are considered: low nutrient, using the background concentration ( and ) and high nutrient, using concentrations of and . Results show that the oil concentration for the WAF is less than that resulting from the CEWAF. In the WAF, the biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was not detected due to extremely low concentration. In contrast, the biodegradation of the alkanes and the methylated PAHs (mPAHs) is as high as 72% after 42 days and seem to be unaffected by the nutrient concentration. In the CEWAF, considerable biodegradation is noted for the alkanes, PAHs, and mPAHs. The enhanced oil biodegradation in the presence of dispersant suggests that chemical dispersion might be an effective approach in the treatment of spilled oil.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This study was funded in part by the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council (PWS-RCAS) under Contract 931.12.01. However, it does not reflect the views of the PWS-RCAC, and no official endorsement should be inferred.
References
Aeppli, C., et al. (2012). “Oil weathering after the Deepwater Horizon disaster led to the formation of oxygenated residues.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 46(16), 8799–8807.
Alford, J. B., Peterson, M. S., and Green, C. C. (2014). Impacts of oil spill disasters on marine habitats and fisheries in North America, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
Atlas, R. M., and Bartha, R. (1972). “Degradation and mineralization of petroleum in sea water: Limitation by nitrogen and phosphorous.” Biotechnol. Bioeng., 14(3), 309–318.
Atlas, R. M., and Bartha, R. (1973). “Stimulated biodegradation of oil slicks using oleophilic fertilizers.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 7(6), 538–541.
Atlas, R. M., and Hazen, T. C. (2011). “Oil biodegradation and bioremediation: A tale of the two worst spills in US history.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 45(16), 6709–6715.
Blondina, G. J., et al. (1999). “Influence of salinity on petroleum accommodation by dispersants.” Spill Sci. Technol. Bull., 5(2), 127–134.
Boufadel, M., Ken, L., and Tsao, D. (2014a). “Biodegradation and bioremediation of oiled beaches: A primer for planners and managers.”, American Petroleum Institute, Washington, DC.
Boufadel, M. C., et al. (1999). “Optimal nitrate concentration for the biodegradation of n-heptadecane in a variably-saturated sand column.” Environ. Technol., 20(2), 191–199.
Boufadel, M. C., Abdollahi-Nasab, A., Geng, X., Galt, J., and Torlapati, J. (2014b). “Simulation of the landfall of the deepwater horizon oil on the shorelines of the Gulf of Mexico.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 48(16), 9496–9505.
Boufadel, M. C., and Geng, X. (2014). “A new paradigm in oil spill modeling for decision making?” Environ. Res. Lett., 9(8), 081001.
Boufadel, M. C., Sharifi, Y., Van Aken, B., Wrenn, B. A., and Lee, K. (2010). “Nutrient and oxygen concentrations within the sediments of an Alaskan beach polluted with the Exxon Valdez oil spill.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 44(19), 7418–7424.
Bragg, J. R., Prince, R. C., Harner, E. J., and Atlas, R. M. (1994). “Effectiveness of bioremediation for the Exxon Valdez oil spill.” Nature, 368(6470), 413–418.
Camilli, R., et al. (2012). “Acoustic measurement of the Deepwater Horizon Macondo well flow rate.” P. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 109(50), 20235–20239.
Díaz, M. P., Boyd, K. G., Grigson, S. J. W., and Burgess, J. G. (2002). “Biodegradation of crude oil across a wide range of salinities by an extremely halotolerant bacterial consortium MPD-M, immobilized onto polypropylene fibers.” Biotechnol. Bioeng., 79(2), 145–153.
Dibble, J. T., and Bartha, R. (1976). “Effect of iron on the biodegradation of petroleum in seawater.” Appl. Environ. Microbio., 31(4), 544–550.
Du, X., et al. (1999). “Optimum nitrogen concentration supporting maximum crude oil biodegradation in microcosms.” Proc., 1999 Int. Oil Spill Conf., American Petroleum Institute, Washington, DC, 485–488.
EPA. (1996). Separatory funnel liquid-liquid extraction, Washington, DC.
Fingas, M. F. (2004). Dispersants, salinity and Prince William Sound, Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council, Anchorage, AK.
Garrett, R. M., Pickering, I. J., Haith, C. E., and Prince, R. C. (1998). “Photooxidation of crude oils.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 32(23), 3719–3723.
Geng, X., Boufadel, M. C., Lee, K., Abrams, S., and Suidan, M. (2015). “Biodegradation of subsurface oil in a tidally influenced sand beach: Impact of hydraulics and interaction with pore water chemistry.” Water Resour. Res., 51(5), 3193–3218.
Geng, X., Boufadel, M. C., Personna, Y. R., Lee, K., Tsao, D., and Demicco, E. D. (2014). “BIOB: A mathematical model for the biodegradation of low solubility hydrocarbons.” Mar. Pollut. Bull., 83(1), 138–147.
Geng, X., Boufadel, M. C., and Wrenn, B. (2013). “Mathematical modeling of the biodegradation of residual hydrocarbon in a variably-saturated sand column.” Biodegradation, 24(2), 153–163.
Geng, X., Pan, Z., Boufadel, M. C., Ozgokmen, T., Lee, K., and Zhao, L. (2016). “Simulation of oil bioremediation in a tidally influenced beach: Spatiotemporal evolution of nutrient and dissolved oxygen.” J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 121(4), 2385–2404.
Hazen, T. C., and Prince, R. C. (2015). “Marine oil biodegradation.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 50(5), 2121–2129.
Head, I. M., Jones, D. M., and Röling, W. F. (2006). “Marine microorganisms make a meal of oil.” Nat. Rev. Microbiol., 4(3), 173–182.
Kaku, V. J., Boufadel, M. C., and Venosa, A. D. (2006a). “Evaluation of mixing energy in laboratory flasks used for dispersant effectiveness testing.” J. Environ. Eng., 93–101.
Kaku, V. J., Boufadel, M. C., Venosa, A. D., and Weaver, J. (2006b). “Flow dynamics in eccentrically rotating flasks used for dispersant effectiveness testing.” Environ. Fluid Mech., 6(4), 385–406.
Kanicky, J. R., Lopez-Montilla, J.-C., Pandey, S., and Shah, D. (2001). Surface chemistry in the petroleum industry, Wiley, New York, 251–267.
Kargi, F., and Dincer, A. R. (1996). “Effect of salt concentration on biological treatment of saline wastewater by fed-batch operation.” Enzyme Microb. Tech., 19(7), 529–537.
Liebeg, E. W., and Cutright, T. J. (1999). “The investigation of enhanced bioremediation through the addition of macro and micro nutrients in a PAH contaminated soil.” Int. Biodeterior. Biodegrad., 44(1), 55–64.
Macnaughton, S. J., Swannell, R., Daniel, F., and Bristow, L. (2003). “Biodegradation of dispersed Forties crude and Alaskan North Slope oils in microcosms under simulated marine conditions.” Spill Sci. Technol. Bull., 8(2), 179–186.
McGenity, T. J. (2014). “Hydrocarbon biodegradation in intertidal wetland sediments.” Curr. Opin. Biotech., 27, 46–54.
Mukherjee, B., and Wrenn, B. A. (2013). “Size distribution as a measure of dispersant performance.” J. Environ. Eng. Sci., 8(1), 98–107.
Mulyono, M., Jasjfi, E., and Maloringan, M. (1994). “Oil spill dispersants: Do they do any good?” Proc., 2nd Int. Conf. Health, Safety and Environment in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Richardson, TX.
Oh, Y. S., Sim, D. S., and Kim, S. J. (2003). “Effectiveness of bioremediation on oil-contaminated sand in intertidal zone.” J. Microbio. Biotechnol., 13(3), 437–443.
Okpokwasili, G. C., and Odokuma, L. O. (1990). “Effect of salinity on biodegradation of oil spill dispersants.” Waste Manage., 10(2), 6.
Personna, Y. R., King, T., Boufadel, M. C., Zhang, S., and Kustka, A. (2014). “Assessing weathered Endicott oil biodegradation in brackish water.” Mar. Pollut. Bull., 86(1), 102–110.
Prince, R. C. (1993). “Petroleum spill bioremediation in marine environments.” Crit. Rev. Microbio., 19(4), 217–242.
Prince, R. C., et al. (1994). “, -hopane as a conserved internal marker for estimating the biodegradation of crude oil.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 28(1), 142–145.
Prince, R. C., et al. (2003). “Bioremediation of stranded oil on an Arctic shoreline.” Spill Sci. Technol. Bull., 8(3), 303–312.
Prince, R. C., and Bragg, J. R. (1997). “Shoreline bioremediation following the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.” Bioremed. J., 1(2), 97–104.
Prince, R. C., McFarlin, K. M., Butler, J. D., Febbo, E. J., Wang, F. C., and Nedwed, T. J. (2013). “The primary biodegradation of dispersed crude oil in the sea.” Chemosphere, 90(2), 521–526.
Sharifi, Y., Van Aken, B., and Boufadel, M. C. (2011). “The effect of pore water chemistry on the biodegradation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.” Water Qual. Expo. Health, 2(3–4), 157–168.
Smith, V. H., Graham, D. W., and Cleland, D. D. (1998). “Application of resource-ratio theory to hydrocarbon biodegradation.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 32(21), 3386–3395.
Torlapati, J., and Boufadel, M. C. (2014). “Evaluation of the biodegradation of Alaska North Slope oil in microcosms using the biodegradation model BIOB.” Front. Microbiol., 5, 1–15.
Varadaraj, R., Robbins, M. L., Bock, J., Pace, S., and MacDonald, D. (1995). Dispersion and biodegradation of oil spills on water, American Petroleum Institute, Washington, DC, 101–106.
Venosa, A., et al. (1996). “Bioremediation of an experimental oil spill on the Shoreline of Delaware Bay.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 30(5), 1764–1775.
Venosa, A., and Holder, E. (2007). “Biodegradability of dispersed crude oil at two different temperatures.” Mar. Pollut. Bull., 54(5), 545–553.
Venosa, A. D., and Holder, E. L. (2013). “Determining the dispersibility of South Louisiana crude oil by eight oil dispersant products listed on the NCP product schedule.” Mar. Pollut. Bull., 66(1), 73–77.
Yakimov, M. M., Timmis, K. N., and Golyshin, P. N. (2007). “Obligate oil-degrading marine bacteria.” Curr. Opin. Biotech., 18(3), 257–266.
Zahed, M. A., Aziz, H. A., Isa, M. H., Mohajeri, L., and Mohajeri, S. (2010). “Optimal conditions for bioremediation of oily seawater.” Bioresour. Technol., 101(24), 9455–9460.
Zhao, L., Boufadel, M. C., Socolofsky, S. A., Adams, E., King, T., and Lee, K. (2014a). “Evolution of droplets in subsea oil and gas blowouts: Development and validation of the numerical model VDROP-J.” Mar. Pollut. Bull., 83(1), 58–69.
Zhao, L., Torlapati, J., Boufadel, M. C., King, T., Robinson, B., and Lee, K. (2014b). “VDROP: A numerical model for the simulation of droplet formation from oils of various viscosities.” Chem. Eng. J., 253, 93–106.
Zhu, X., Venosa, A. D., Suidan, M. T., and Lee, K. (2001). Guidelines for the bioremediation of marine shorelines and freshwater wetlands, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 9 • September 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 19, 2016
Accepted: Jan 23, 2017
Published ahead of print: Apr 25, 2017
Published online: Apr 26, 2017
Published in print: Sep 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Sep 26, 2017
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.