Chapter 24 - Remediation of Crude Oil Spillage

Abstract

Oil spillage is a crucial environmental catastrophe of universal interest. Occurring either inadvertently or deliberately, it results mostly from everyday human activities through releases into coastal waters and land. Scores of oil spills are not reported in developing countries and many times, concise efforts are not made to restore the ecosystem to its previous state even when the oil spills are accounted for. Crude oil spills have damaged vulnerable ecosystems across the world. Offshore oil spill is the major cause of concern because of its hazardous impacts on marine life. Conventional countermeasures for oil spill remediation in the aquatic environment include various physical, chemical, thermal, and biological processes. Biological processes involving the use of many native microorganisms in water and soil are preferred because they involve the use of living organisms to carry out remediation of polluted sites, particularly the cleanup of crude oil spills in the detoxification of these environments. Although biological methods are not free of disadvantages, the benefits are quite enormous and these include the fact that they are highly sustainable and at the same time economical.