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Oil Spills: How to Effectively Clean Up While Maintaining Normal Plant and Animal Life

CSEF · 2006 Environmental Engineering

Catherine A. Priamos · St. Catherine of Alexandria, Riverside

Overview

Objectives/Goals To find out which is the fastest and most effective way to clean up an oil spill while maintaining normal plant and animal life. The methods include sorbents, bioremediation and skimmers. Methods/Materials Using 4 aquariums with fish and water plants, I create an oil spill using used motor oil. One was a control aquarium, in another, I used oil eating microbes, yet another, I used a sorbent, and the last, I used a skimmer (turkey baster). Results The sorbent was the fastest and most effective. Following closely in effectiveness was bioremediation, but it took a long time. The least effective and slowest was the skimmer. Conclusions/Discussion For a small scale/contained oil spill, sorbents seem to be the fastest and most effective clean up method, closely followed by bioremediation.

Summary statement

My project is about finding out which is the fastest and most effective way to clean up an oil spill while maintaining normal plant and animal life.

Help received

Mom took pictures, bought materials and helped make graphs and insert photos. Dad lifted filled tanks, got motor oil from car, sprayed adhesive for backboard, and disposed of dead fish until I got used to it.

Competition history

  • CSEF 2006 Environmental Engineering · Entry J0815

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