Can DU Do This?

[Mark D.]

Run time: 07:54 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-yVBXfW9Z4   Posted on YouTube: June 01, 2010 By YouTube Member: vientorio Views on YouTube: 1603   Posted on DU: June 14, 2010 By DU Member: Mark D. Views on DU: 506

 
Can we join together to contact every politician, every news and talk radio station, especially those to the left?
Yes, search DU and you'll hear about oil eating microbes that are harmful. This is not that one. This was actually
tested in an actual oil spill in the gulf and surrounding mashes. Watch the whole video, that gets shown in there.
It was safe, it worked, it's cheap, it reproduces in and consumes the oil. But it dies after that's done. If anyone
knows of this formula being harmful, please post that here. I didn't make this video, I just saw this on YouTube.

[Laelth]

1. There are already oil-eating microbes in the Gulf eating the oil now.

It consumes a lot of oxygen in the water to do it and kills all the life in the water just the same, but it's already happening. In fact, as I understand it, this is a natural process. We don't need to spend any money to "make" this happen.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Mark D.]

2. Search DU

It shows what you are saying is true in a few threads. It also talks about some of this bacteria being harmful.
This particular strain is said to be safe. That presence of a more dominant kind of bacteria (ie. this seems to
eat oil faster and more specifically) will kill off competing bacteria. While it depletes oxygen...it gives off
a waste marine life can safely eat, kind of returning the favor. Oxygen can be replenished. Also note the video
shows its use in marshes already with their own 'natural' bacteria. The areas treated with it were healthy, and
as if there was no oil spill. The other areas left to their own devices failing. If it's better it is worth it,
in my opinion. Furhter, it's far less expensive and breeds quickly. Once established, it needs no re-supply in
the area it's applied to, from what I see. Again, it was tested in an actual spill and it worked on it better.

[Laelth]

3. Safe is a relative term.

All bacteria consume oxygen, just like we do. Most likely, bacteria will have to consume most of the available oxygen in the Gulf in order to break down all the oil. The Gulf would be dead. It might be, regardless.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Mark D.]

4. Perhaps

It would be easier to 'irrigate' outside air into the gulf somehow (akin to the bubble thing in a fish tank) to bring back the O2, or propagate a lot of algae, and plant life to absorb CO2 and create O2? If this works, it would beat the alterantive, a 'dead anyway' Gulf full of oil that nothing I've just mentioned would help. The bacterial waste is eaten by marine life that also emits C02 and waste product that could also be fertilizer for plant life that would balance things out. There is bound to have been times when these kind of bacteria have flourished and killed off O2 in areas. But The lack off it just meant the CO2 they gave off was plentiful, causing O2 producing life to flourish, and rebalance. That's the miracle of nature. This stuff is natural (the bacteria) and has been a part of that process since the start of time.

EDIT: The above points are very valid about the risk of low oxygen dead-zones. It would appear the video idea overlooks that risk, given how large this spill is.My hope would be non-oxygen consuming microbes that do consume oil. It appears such microbes are not commonly available or fully tested. The article below speaks of the hope they may have in the future. But I'm willing to say I stand corrected on this issue for my overlooking the oxygen depletion aspect.

------------------------

ScienceDaily Sep. 11, 2008 — Microbes that break down oil and petroleum are more diverse than we thought, suggesting hydrocarbons were used as an energy source early in Earth's history, scientists heard at the Society for General Microbiology's Autumn meeting being held this week at Trinity College, Dublin. These microbes can change the composition of oil and natural gas and can even control the release of some greenhouse gases. Understanding the role of microbes in consuming hydrocarbons may therefore help us access their role in the natural control of climate change.

"Hydrocarbons like oil and natural gas are made up of carbon and hydrogen, they are among the most abundant substances on Earth," said Dr Friedrich Widdel from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany. "Even though we use them as fuel sources, they are actually very unreactive at room temperature. This makes them difficult to use as a biological energy source, particularly if there is no oxygen around."

For over 100 years scientists have known that microbes such as bacteria can use hydrocarbons like oil and gas as nutrients. But this process usually requires supplies of oxygen to work at room temperature. "Scientists were always fascinated by the microbes that do this because hydrocarbons are so unreactive," said Dr Widdel. "But it is even more surprising to find an increasing number of microbes that can digest hydrocarbons without needing oxygen."

"The striking diversity of micro-organisms that can break down hydrocarbons may reflect the early appearance of these compounds as nutrients for microbes in Earth's history; Bacteria and archaea living with hydrocarbons therefore may have appeared early in the evolution of life," said Dr. Widdel.

These bacteria and archaea thrive in the hidden underworld of mud and sediments. You can find them in sunken patches of oil under the sea, in oil and gas seeping out underground, and maybe even in oil reservoirs. Their product, hydrogen sulphide, may nourish an unusual world of simple animal life around such seeps via special symbiotic bacteria.

Scientists have identified particular symbioses between archaea and bacteria that are capable of consuming the greenhouse gas methane before it can escape from the ocean's sediments. Others that have been discovered contribute to the bioremediation or cleaning up of petroleum contaminated water supplies in underground aquifers.

"This astounding oxygen-independent digestion of hydrocarbons is only possible via unique, formerly unknown enzymes," said Dr Widdel. "By getting a better understanding of the way these enzymes and microbes are functioning we will also have a better understanding of natural greenhouse gas control and the way hydrocarbons are naturally recycled into carbon dioxide."

[The Wielding Truth]

5. This is a current view.

http://news.discovery.com/tech/oil-eating-microbes-gulf-oil-spill.html

Two weeks ago, Ben Lyons, a research scientist and engineer at the small biotech firm Evolugate, hopped in his car and drove from his lab in Gainesville, Fla., to New Orleans. There he talked his way onto a 9-meter catamaran that was heading out on a research trip into the Gulf of Mexico to investigate the massive oil spill from a gushing BP well.

About 30 kilometers south of the Mississippi River Delta, Lyons scooped up a dozen liters of water and oil. That mixture now fills his company’s bioreactor, a 4-meter-long translucent tube with a laser that shoots beams through the liquid. Inside, populations of 18 types of oil-eating microorganisms are feasting on