TWO marine bacteria, isolated by
biotechnologists of the Central
Agricultural Research Institute, Port
Blair, Andamans, could prove to be
a boon in managi 'ng oil spills. The
two bacteria proved to be highly
efficient in degrading oil almost
completely in less than a month. More
than 90 per cent of oil substrates -
spilled oil, fuel oil like engine and gear
oil, burnt engine oil and xylene - were
degraded by these 'bacteria within
four weeks.
These bacteria produce, natural
biodegradable chemicals to break
down oil, which are believed to be more
efficient and safer than the toxic
synthetic chemicals used in emulsification (dispersing the oil phase into
water) of oil during oil spills. The
.whitish, gummy, insoluble substances
called polymeric emulsifying agents
produced by the bacteria help in the
emulsification process. It was found that
in the presence of the agents, emulsification was at least 25 times higher thim
in samples that did not contain these
substances.
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