From Surface Water to the Deep Sea: A Review on Factors Affecting the Biodegradation of Spilled Oil in Marine Environment

Abstract

Over the past century, the demand for petroleum products has increased rapidly, leading to higher oil extraction, processing and transportation, which result in numerous oil spills in coastal-marine environments. As the spilled oil can negatively affect the coastal-marine ecosystems, its transport and fates captured a significant interest of the scientific community and regulatory agencies. Typically, the environment has natural mechanisms (e.g., photooxidation, biodegradation, evaporation) to weather/degrade and remove the spilled oil from the environment. Among various oil weathering mechanisms, biodegradation by naturally occurring bacterial populations removes a majority of spilled oil, thus the focus on bioremediation has increased significantly. Helping in the marginal recognition of this promising technique for oil-spill degradation, this paper reviews recently published articles that will help broaden the understanding of the factors affecting biodegradation of spilled oil in coastal-marine environments. The goal of this review is to examine the effects of various environmental variables that contribute to oil degradation in the coastal-marine environments, as well as the factors that influence these processes. Physico-chemical parameters such as temperature, oxygen level, pressure, shoreline energy, salinity, and pH are taken into account. In general, increase in temperature, exposure to sunlight (photooxidation), dissolved oxygen (DO), nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium), shoreline energy (physical advection—waves) and diverse hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms consortium were found to increase spilled oil degradation in marine environments. In contrast, higher initial oil concentration and seawater pressure can lower oil degradation rates. There is limited information on the influences of seawater pH and salinity on oil degradation, thus warranting additional research. This comprehensive review can be used as a guide for bioremediation modeling and mitigating future oil spill pollution in the marine environment by utilizing the bacteria adapted to certain conditions.

Unravelling Diatoms’ Potential for the Bioremediation of Oil Hydrocarbons in Marine Environments

“…However, the results of experiments with diatoms exposed to polyaromatic hydrocarbons under controlled conditions using, in some cases, seawater from oil hydrocarbon-contaminated seas [19,[36][37][38]40] have conclusively shown that diatoms' presence enhances the biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in contaminated shorelines and seas. Nevertheless, most of the environmental factors that influence microorganisms, mainly eukaryotic microalgae in the sea, also influence the effectiveness of diatoms' biodegradation and bioremediation rate of polyaromatic hydrocarbons in the laboratory, except sea and shoreline energy, such as currents and waves, and seawater pressure [145,146]. Among the environmental parameters, nutrient silicates, nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium are important for the successful thriving of diatoms in the sea.…”

Bioremediation: Review on oil spill management using oil eating microorganisms, and spill effects on marine and terrestrial environment

“…Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), are considered as main requirement for effective microbial growth. Their availability may vary according to season of the area and level of water as deep water, have enhanced nutrients but less nutrients are available in surface water (Bacosa et. al.…”

Oxygenase Enzyme Activity and Compound Profile in Hydrocarbon Bioremediation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Rhodococcus erythropolis Consortium

“…The first step is the oxidation reaction, which needs an oxygen molecule and is catalyzed by an enzyme; the second is the primary alcohol, which is generated by the oxidation of methyl set; and the last is alcohol, which is then subjected to perpetual processes of oxidation to generate aldehyde, which is frequently converted into fatty acid. Commonly, the oxygen molecule is decreased to water, whereas petroleum hydrocarbons are oxidized to create energy, CO 2 , and cell mass (Bacosa et al, 2022;Brimberry et al, 2023;Kebede et al, 2021;Wang et al, 2011).…”