Cleaning Up Oil Spills with Oil-Hungry Bacteria

Lab Investigation

Observe the use of microbes for oil degradation.

Model various oil spill scenarios and monitor the effectiveness of the provided freeze-dried oil-degrading microbe mixture in remediating the waste. The students set up a simulated oil spill in water and treat it with the special microbial product to observe the physical changes and degradation of oil film over time. Additionally, they simulate three spill scenarios on beach sand, gravel and cobbles in order to observe the difference in degradation rates. The class also explores bioremediation methods for other waste chemicals and compares their effectiveness to traditional clean-up methods.

Accommodates class size of 40 students.