Study - Dispersants Associated with the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill - "negligible" Biodegradation

[sharon sanders]

Fate of Dispersants Associated with the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill



Elizabeth B. Kujawinski*?, Melissa C. Kido Soule?, David L. Valentine?, Angela K. Boysen??, Krista Longnecker?, and Molly C. Redmond?
^? Department of Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, United States
^? Department of Earth Science and Marine Science Institute, University of California − Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States
^? Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California 94305, United States

<cite>Environ. Sci. Technol.</cite>, Article ASAP
DOI: 10.1021/es103838p
Publication Date (Web): January 26, 2011
Copyright ? 2011 American Chemical Society



"We conclude that DOSS was selectively associated with the oil and gas phases in the deepwater plume, yet underwent negligible, or slow, rates of biodegradation in the affected waters. These results provide important constraints on accurate modeling of the deepwater plume and critical geochemical contexts for future toxicological studies."

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es103838p

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Study - Dispersants Associated with the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill - "negligible" Biodegradation

interview excerpt -

"It is hard for me at this point to say whether or not it is bad or good that it stuck around," study lead author Elizabeth Kujawinski, a chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, told me today. She and colleagues were surprised that little or no biodegradation of the dispersant substance had occurred.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/26/5925569-oil-spill-dispersants-dont-disappear