Indiana company may have resource to help clean gulf oil spill

Oil continues to ooze from a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico. President Obama has pledged to use every resource to stop the leak and clean up the mess. One of those resources could come from this area.

Bioremediation Incorporated is a local company that uses natural bacteria to clean up harmful chemicals. The company has invented a microbe that consumes crude oil...and company officials say they are eager to help out in the Gulf.

Steve Kennedy is president of Bioremediation Incorporated which helps companies eliminate toxic waste. The company holds a super-secret bacteria formula that can consume crude oil.

“Us as humans, we consume steak and pizzas. Our microbes consume hydrocarbons, and crude oil is a hydrocarbon,” Kennedy says.

The oil is highly flammable and toxic before the application. Pour on the bacteria solution...and you can see immediate results. The bacteria is breaking down the toxic substances and turning it into carbon dioxide and water. Kennedy says, their product could easily be used in the gulf to get rid of the crude oil.

“Ours would be a simple way. It would be spraying it down and letting the microbes consume it off,” he says. “That is how it works.”
http://www.thepoliticalcarnival.net/2010/04/indiana-company-may-have-resource-to.html

I knew this type of bacteria was in the works. I have no idea how effective it would really be or the unintended consequences from it.

At this point, I don't think it can do much more damage than the oil itself if there are problems. They have used it and tested it. I'd use it NOW.

I've been hearing about this method for years.

Sounds like a line from a horror movie.

the ultimate reality horror show. It will run for years.

now you know why I have been boycotting Exxon since the big spill occurred in Alaska. :mad: still and even angrier now!

:dem: :kick: & recommend.

P.S. BOYCOTT BP!!!!!

some sort of bioremediation. I thought maybe Stamets would bring in the mushrooms, but this sounds great too.

about Stamets for days. His book "Mycelium Running" should be a must read for all tree hugging types. He is a personal hero of mine and I have all his books. Yes, I am a mushroom hunter of over 60 years.

medicinal and food mushrooms. I have never hunted mushrooms, but I am getting into the the culture of growing mushrooms. I've done some study and am almost ready to begin my first logs.

Paul Stamets and TED are both awesome. I'm bookmarking this for later when I have proper time to listen carefully.
:hi:

:)

What little I understand about bioremediation with fungi is that it is for soil contamination and not for that which still floats in the waters. This is a situation where both should be used, bacteria for the water and fungi for the shorelines and marshes. Although I'm not sure how well it will work in the marshes.

I found the following articles on the topic of fungi bioremediation:

Fungi in Bioremediation of Oil Polluted Environments
Mushrooms Break Down Oil and Plastic In Bioremediation

And Stamets' article on his website: Mushrooms and the ecosystem

"eat" up plastic, which is a petroleum product. These guys need to get innovative cause this isn't their grandfathers oil gusher!

I wonder whatever happened with his process?

As for this disaster, any kind of remediation needs to get into gear now and deploy. Hit it before it can seep in too much. I don't know how what can be done about the oil that is subsurface, but would think there are some pretty bright minds out there with ideas that can be implemented and fast.

The "crude-eating" bacteria don't work very well on oil that has mixed with water. This type of oil does that very well, sort of like detergent in water. By the time it reaches the surface it has already mixed rater well.

Still, anything is worth a try.

What is Bioremediation?

The Process of Bioremediation uses naturally occurring microbes to degrade toxic substances into less toxic or non-toxic materials. The microorganisms like all animals eat and digest organic (carbon and hydrogen based) materials.

Some microorganisms can eat and digest substances consider toxic to humans (fuels, solvents, etc.). They break down these toxic substances in to less toxic form -mainly carbon dioxide and water. Once the contaminants are degraded; the microorganisms food supply is gone and the microbes die off. The dead microorganisms in the absence of their toxic food pose no contamination risk.

Much more info:
http://www.bioremediationinc.com/INFO-WHAT_IS_BIOREMEDIATION.htm

what comes out of the microbes other end?

They don't mutate into a GIANT oil SUCKING monster...
THEN we will have to ask the Japanese if we can borrow GODZILLA..

oH wait.. THAT was a movie..
never mind.

It's possible and the effects could be catastrophic on a global basis.

and has been in use in the environment for at least 20 years. This cow left the barn quite a long time ago, it is a tad late to suggest closing the door. Bioremediation agents have been used to clean up "brownfields" and sites where leaky underground storage tanks were removed since at least the 1980s. There is an entire industry and regular conferences on the matter with updates on the latest research, applications, and technologies.

Mutation in brownfields and leaky underground storage tanks is contained to an extremely minute area.

Releasing this into the Gulf could have global consequences.

It will cause massive animal and plant deaths plus some mutations probably. I am not SURE about using it either.

I'd give it a whirl in some places.

The Gulf would be the STUPIDEST place to test it in an ocean spill.

that has been in use for many years. It is generally used to remove trace quantities of petroleum products from contaminated soils and groundwater. It is the usual finishing step after using double cased wells to create a cone of depression and then collecting the floating "free product". The free product is separated and the more heavily contaminated groundwater is carbon filtered and then "air stripped". Once you have done all these things for a while and a maximum mechanical pollutant removal is reached, then bioremediation agents are applied to finish the job.