Bioremediation on the Shore after an Oil Spill from the Nakhodka in the Sea of Japan. I. Chemistry and Characteristics of Heavy Oil Loaded on the Nakhodka and Biodegradation Tests by a Bioremediation Agent with Microbiological Cultures in the Laborat

摘要

In January l997, approximately 5000 tons of heavy oil was spilled from a Russian tanker, Nakhodka, which impacted within a l200 km (linear km) area on the coast of Japan. We organized a joint research group to clean-up the oil on the shore with microbiological cultures for bioremediation, Terrazyme'" (Oppenheimer Biotech- nology, Inc.). In this paper, we will examine the chemistry of the Nakhodka oiI and the oil samples treated with the bioremediation agent in vitro. The Nakhodka oil had an extremely high water content, 46.9/100, and this resulted in a high oil viscosity and higher oil fluidity at a lower temperature . TerraZyme exhibited a high Potential for biodegradation of oil. Approximately 35/100 of the Nakhodka oil was degraded in l00 ml of test samples containing l000 ppm of the initial concentration of the oil during the three-week test period. The impact of biode- gradation extended to the hardest material in this con- tained heavy oil, asphaltum.