- Image by Gord McKenna via Flickr
There appears to be literally nothing microbes cannot do. From the invention of photosynthesis to lifecycles that require no sunlight—even surviving extreme radiation—the most extreme microbes thrive almost everywhere scientists look. And now microbiologists have added two more energy-related tricks to the microbial arsenal.
At the European Society for General Microbiology meeting this week, Richard Johnson and his fellow scientists from the University of Essex will present research showing that a mixed ecosystem of particular bacteria can survive—and clean up—one of the most lethal man-made environments: the residue from extracting petroleum from oil sands.
Extracting this heavy oil and refining it produces a slew of toxic waste, particularly water with naphthenic acid (one of the secret ingredients of napalm). In Athabasca region of Canada—home to much of the oil sands industry—there are at least one billion cubic meters of such polluted water sitting in local ponds.
What to do? Unleash bacteria, Johnson says. The microbes can break down the naphthenic acid into more benign byproducts in a few days rather than the decade or more it can take naturally. This can cut down on the environmental impact of producing oil from tar sands, of which there is an estimated 3.6 trillion barrels (double known conventional oil reserves).
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