Abstract
In response to recent advances in understanding relating to the remarkable persistence of soil organic matter during burial and diagenesis, we examine the extent to which bitumen compositionally reflects the soil organic matter from which it was derived. Through a simple set of experiments, exposure of bitumen to lipase and cellulase, two enzymes effective in the biodegradation of soil organic matter, resulted in the release of glycerin, palmitic and oleic fatty acids from lipase digestion in addition to the release of glucose, alkylphenols and acyclic polyols from fermentation with cellulase, consistent with the products expected these enzymes. These results are significant in that they suggest that heavy oils are more similar to their soil precursor than previously thought, that biodegradation of bitumen can be accelerated using common over the counter enzymes in aerobic conditions and that heavy oils, which are 1000 times more abundant than coal, can release similar biomolecules as those generated in bioreactor culture or biomass harvest, using two of the most abundantly produced enzymes presently available.
Highlights
In response to recent advances in understanding relating to the remarkable persistence of soil organic matter during burial and diagenesis, we examine the extent to which bitumen compositionally reflects the soil organic matter from which it was derived
Prior to this study it has always been assumed that heavy oils differ from soil organic matter to such an extent that they are largely recalcitrant to biological means of degradation, having already undergone extensive biodegradation in-situ and that these biomarkers can only be separated from the hydrocarbons using chemical and/or thermal treatments
Samples digested with lipase contained glycerin and two large peaks, displayed in Fig. 2, which were identified by GC-MS as C16 palmitic and C18 oleic fatty acids, known as palm and olive oil, respectively
Summary
In response to recent advances in understanding relating to the remarkable persistence of soil organic matter during burial and diagenesis, we examine the extent to which bitumen compositionally reflects the soil organic matter from which it was derived. As a consequence of the fact that kerogen is the diagenic maturation product of soil organic matter, it is possible to classify heavy oils with respect to the ecological conditions which generated their source rocks with particular biochemical precursors.
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