Using microbes for oil spill clean-up

Scientists have developed bio-based products to detect, monitor and detoxify marine oil spills in an eco-friendly way.

Oil spills that release harmful petroleum hydrocarbons into the marine environment can be cleaned up in several ways. These include sponge-like sorbents that absorb oil, dispersants that chemically break down oil, chemically disperse oil into micro-droplets and stimulation of microorganisms that biologically degrade oil by consuming it as an energy source. The EU-funded KILL●SPILL (Integrated biotechnological solutions for combating marine oil spills) project was established to find such viable solutions to combat oil spills using both established and novel methods.

Further information: Using microbes for oil spill clean-up