AHMEDABAD: In a significant discovery that could go a long way in controlling oil spills in the sea, scientists of Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) have identified marine bacteria that can degrade crude oil.
The find is a especially important for Gujarat, which handles nearly 80% of India’s crude oil import through the ports in Gulf of Kutch. India’s only Marine National Park is also situated in this gulf and a threat of oil spill always looms here.
Scientists identified this marine bacillus specie near the coast of Vadinar, which handles maximum crude imports. In layman’s terms, this bacteria degrades or breaks down the chain of hydrocarbons in the spilt oil, thus making it easy to clear it from the sea and dispose it.
“Universally, oil spills produce enormous public anxiety and highlight the need for cost-effective, indigenous and environmentally acceptable bioremediation technologies. In recent times, advanced remedial techniques have been opted, such as solidifying, skimming, controlled burning and bio-remediation,” said the study titled ‘Biodegradation of Crude Oil Using Marine Bacillus Species from Vadinar Coast, Gujarat, India’.
Among seven isolates, scientists chose three bacterial strains for crude oil and petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) degradation, which were thoroughly analysed using various methods.
“The overall results indicate that the studied bacterial isolates can prevent the contamination of oilpolluted areas in future. The present study shows that bacillus species with efficient emulsification activity, drop collapse test and oil spreading assay can be used for marine oil bioremediation,” the study noted. The study was conducted by Najmuddin Mulani, Abhay B Fulke, Edna D’Souza, Anirudh Ram, Aayushi Maloo, Faraz Sayed and SN Gajbhiye of CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, regional centre in Mumbai.
Besides containing oil
pollution in marine waters, the immobilized lipase (chemical catalysts) isolated from the bacterial strains can also be used for commercial applications. In recent past, an oil tanker MT Genessa carrying 30,000 tonnes of high-speed diesel had caught fire near Kandla port in January 2018, raising serious fear of the petroleum spilling in the sea. However, there was no spill.
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