Project: Sanus Terra
Our primary project goal is to mitigate the environmental damage of oil spills through bioremediation. We are planning to use a bacterium, Pseudomonas putida, which is harmless and is naturally found in the water. Pseudomonas putida can metabolize organic compounds that are found in oil. Oils are composed of long chain hydrocarbons, benzene, toluene, naphthalene, and other organic compounds; all which are toxic to the environment and humans. Oil damages the environment; it kills animals, bacteria and plants. We will be using GFP as a reporter to indicate the presence of oil; it will also determine when the cleanup process is complete. Cleaning up this pollution in a green and effortless manner will eliminate the need for use of heavy machinery and toxic chemicals.
We will be using the bacteria Pseudomonas putida in order to clean up the oil. Psuedomonas putida is notorious for its ability to consume oil. The monooxygenase system (MMO) is responsible for the bacteria’s ability to digest the oil. The system is made up of three proteins which bind to carbon-based compounds. The bacteria will be tagged with GFP that will be activated at the presence of oil, and turn off when the bioremediation process is complete. The GFP will be tagged to the promoter of the bacteria’s MMO operon, so that when the bacterium is in the presence of oil, it will also fluoresce.
Since many regions are uneasy about using a product involved with genetically modified organisms (GMO’s), the bacteria will carry the GEF suicide gene. The GEF gene is a suicide gene present in Escherichia coli bacteria. When activated, the gene causes the bacteria to undergo a process called apoptosis, where the cell kills itself. If this gene were to be inserted into Pseudomas putida as a plasmid and would allow the bacteria to die after it has finished cleaning up the oil.
Team Green Fusion- Working toward the Preservation of Environmental Health through Biotechnology.
Environmental health is defined as:
"(An aspect of global health which) addresses all the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a person, and all the related factors impacting behaviors. It encompasses the assessment and control of those environmental factors that can potentially affect health. It is targeted towards preventing disease and creating health-supportive environments."
-World Health Organisation
Environmental Health is important because:
Environmental Health is a critical component of the development of human civilization and industry, due to its vital involvement of the fate of mankind in every facet of human life. Homo sapiens, as the most intelligent species on the planet, have the responsibility to keep the planet clean in order to ensure the continuation of life on Earth.
Why our method is better than current methods:
Current research and technology of oil spill cleanup
In the Queensland crash of the Pacific Adventurer, about 100,000 liters of oil were spilled all over the Moreton and Bribie Islands and the Sunshine Coast. Estimated costs to clean the spill were about $100,000 every day. The methods of cleaning were of remedial isolation of the oil; heavy amounts of soil were placed at the Currimundi River mouth, and berms were placed and the mouths of the Maroochy and Mooloolah Rivers. The beaches were closed off, effectively crippling their tourism industry for an indefinite time while the ecosystem suffered; both counting on the oil to get cleaned up soon before irreversible damage was done. (ABC News)
If our method was used, the oil would have received immediate remediation. The cost also wouldn't be as high as physically blocking the oil and letting it decompose. As well as being great to mitigate the effect of the oil on the environment, less heavy machinery would be used to disturb the earth even more. It is the obvious choice in oil remediation.
Marketing
We recognized that we needed to target oil companies as the primary consumer for our product. Most oil spills happen without public knowledge and are quickly cleaned up by the company responsible. We learned that oil companies are not as concerned with the environment as they are with saving money as well as conserving space on board a vessel.
In our preparation for developing a marketing strategy we focused heavily on culture. We decided to target two locations to market our product, one in the Pacific and one in the Atlantic. For our marketing strategy we plan to use the Aquaculture School's existing partnerships with academia in Japan. We will invite Japanese scientists to work and research in our new biotechnology labs at our school in Bridgeport to aid us in producing our product. Understanding the culture of Japan, we understand that the Japanese have much more confidence in a product that was made by their own people. Through Aqua alumni, we also learned about a small Japanese oil company called MODEC International. The containers need to be manufactured by a company in Brazil because according to NR rules Brazil can only purchase a product produced in their own country.
We are choosing to pitch our idea to Pertrobras because they are a small oil company on the global scale, but big in Brazil. Smaller companies are willing to take big risks to help make themselves a better contender on the global scale. Also they have the oil and hire out MODEC Int. to extract it.
Japan and Brazil have a preexisting relationship that will aid us in marketing our product. Japan possesses all the designs for the oil transporting vessels and the platforms, Pertrobras has the oil. Pertrobras does not have the industry to produce these vessels and platforms themselves so they use Japanese oil companies to produce and operate the machinery for them. Pertrobras pays the Japanese employees and the oil belongs to Brazil.
We are planning to specifically target FPSO’s because that is where oil is most frequently spilt. FPSO’s are floating production storage and offloading vessels. These vessels are manufactured by a company in Japan called Modec International. We will have Modec International work hand in hand with Pertrobras because of their relationship and it helps us to extend our product to both the Pacific and the Atlantic regions.
Measurement of effects of small oil spills
On April 9, 2009, approximately 250 gallons of red-dye marine diesel spilled into Hilo Harbor on the Big Island of Hawaii from an unknown source. The red oil could be seen in the water from two piers in the harbor to about 200 yards off shore. Luckily, the Coast Guard was at the harbor the next day with divers to clean the oil and barriers to prevent it from spreading. (Big Island)
Even though the Coast Guard was able to dull the damage the spill caused to the environment, it was an oil spill never the less. Small oil spills occur like this all over the world every day, and endanger the ecosystems in which they are spilled. For example, the endangered Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle lives in the waters off of Hawaii, and it was undoubtedly affected by the spill. Small oil spills around the world will have effects on the endangered species in their ecosystems, which hurts biodiversity and the ecosystems in which they are spilled. Not only that, but the small spills that are more frequent than larger spills tend to accumulate to become more harmful than the less frequent large oil spills.
Measurement of effects of large oil spills
Animals are one of the biggest losses in large oil spills, especially birds. Their feathers are covered with oil and then the birds get poisoned while attempting to clean themselves. Other animals can die from hypothermia since oil decreases their ability to regulate body temperature. Oil can also effect animals by entering their lungs and livers, and lead to poisoning. Animals can also be blinded by oil and lose the ability to see predators. Environment is also effected by large oil spills. The insertion to oil into an ecosystem throws off the balance of elements in the environment and also poisons the earth, so that organisms of the future are endangered as well as organism in the present.
Government Regulations on oil spill cleanup
Most governments have very few regulations regarding oil spill clean up. A lot of countries consider large oil spills something that doesn’t happen everyday, and therefore, set in stone rules aren’t needed. One of the main concerns with oil spill clean up is the cost of it. The larger the spill is, the longer it will take and the more it will cost to clean it up. Governments commonly use chemical dispersants and in site burning to clean up large oils spills because they are easy and cheap to obtain and use. In the long run, however, these methods are not as helpful as they may seem.
