NEW DELHI: (PTI) India will soon stake an international patent for a cocktail of four microbes that can clean up oil spills, atop scientist told the world Congress on biochemistry and molecular biology here.
‘The cocktail is created by mixing the four Species of microorganisms in just the right proportion, Dp. P. Khanna, director of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) in Nagpur, said.
However, all Indian born American scientists who were the first to patent on oil spill cleaning micro ‘organism cautioned the Indian Researchers to make sure that the technologies they develop and offer have not already been patented abroad.
Dr. Khanna said the microbial cocktail has already been successfully tested.
He said Neeri has already filed an India patent for this microbial consortium. “Many foreign oil companies have expressed great interest in this development and we intend to file international patents,” he said. Meanwhile, Dr. Anando ‘Chakrabarty from the University of Illinois who has himself developed microbial technology for oil recovery said Indian scientists should ensure they develop technologies with a global market.
The Neeri cocktail contains four bacteria isolated from undersea sediments near the Bombay high offshore oil fields and from near refineries, one of the microorganisms is genetically engineered to make it salt tolerant. “This cocktail approach is necessary berates the oil degradation is best achieved through a multispecies system,” Dr. Khanna Said’ speaking at a special Congress session on environmental biotechnology. The Neeri oil spill cleaning technique is a two-step process. In the first step Alkali treated sawdust is used to recover95% of the oil. The: microbial cocktail is then deployed to recover the other five per cent.
The specific ratios of the four bacteria in the cocktail are determined by conditions at the site of the oil spill.
Dr. Khanna said Neeri has also isolated a chemical from another bacterial species which can be used to recover oil from waste sludge for which no efficient method of recovery exists today. In his presentation, Dr. Chakrabarty said apart from oil Spills, microorganisms could also find use in tackling other environmental problems such as soil contaminated with munitions and other chemical agents.
Microorganisms are responsible for recycling natural wastes. Because of their adaptability, they can often be genetically selected to perform biodegrade functions, according to Dr. Chakrabarty.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 4, 1994
