Introduction

India may hold the answer to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil companies in India have been using for many years a homegrown cocktail of bacteria called Oilzapper to reclaim vast tracts of farmland contaminated by crude leaking from pipelines or oily sludge coming out of other installations. Oilzapper's uniqueness lies in the bio-friendly manner in which it detoxifies oil sludges and cleans up oil slicks. Cleanup of an oil slick using bacteria is called 'bioremediation' and is practiced in many parts of the world. But Indian formulation is unique as it eats up all four layers of crude-waxy element or saturated hydrocarbons, aromatic component or benzene compounds, NSO (compounds of nitrogen and sulphur) and asphaltene or tar. Oilzapper can work in temperatures ranging from 8 to 40 degree Celsius.

Oilzapper is being used by all major oil and power companies, including multinationals operating in India, besides the state-run oil firms of Abu-Dhabi and Kuwait. There are 16 refineries in India and all create toxic waste. It is estimated that about 20,000 tonnes of petroleum waste is generated every year and at present being treated in polymer lined pits. Each pit costs about Rs 10 million and each refinery needs several such pits. Against this, just 200 tonnes of environment-friendly oil zapper is needed to clean up 20,000 tonnes of oily waste. Also, more than 5,000 hectares of cropland contaminated with crude oil spills has already been reclaimed in different parts of India and more than 26,000 tonnes of oily sludge successfully treated.

Development of Oilzapper

The research and development wing of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, in association with TERI, had developed a bacterial consortium named "Oiliorous-S" which would completely biodegrade all the fractions of oily sludge, including the sulphur compounds. This bacterial consortium was developed by mixing five bacterial isolates that could degrade hydrocarbon compounds in crude oil and oil sludge and convert them into harmless CO2 and water. Oilzapper is effective, low cost, leaves behind no harmful side effects or residues and is easy to use. It can be used in both marine and terrestrial environments.


The successful application of Oilzapper technology for the bioremediation of oily sludge was studied at the Vishakhapatnam refinery of Hindustan Petrochemical Corporation Ltd, where about 2000 tonnes of oily sludge was detoxified. It was found that cost of treatment was the lowest among all available treatment methods and involved only the cost of transportation of oily sludge, development cost of bacterial consortium, tilling cost and associated labour charges. The site after bioremediation was aesthetically pleasing and environmentally safe.

Cost - Effectiveness

Bioremediation of oily sludge has gained importance in the past decade due to its economical and environmental advantages over the other treatment technologies. A study on incineration and bioremediation reveals that for treating 2000 tonnes of residue/year, the later appears more competitive both in terms of environment and economy. This fact was concluded by comparing the oxygen utilization, chemical cost, and waste quality for incineration and bioremediation. Moreover, bioremediation is far more cost-effective than other technologies used to clean up hazardous waste. Also, it is estimated that Oilzapper works out to be 30 to 40 percent cheaper than the conventional physico-chemical treatments.

Oilzapper has elicited tremendous response in India and abroad and is marketed by TERI and IOCL, New Delhi. It is like a powder and is sprayed on an oil pool or contaminated soil just like fertilizer. It takes 3 to 4 months for the bacteria to eat up the oil.

Among many other advantages of Oilzapper, two distinct ones stand out:

1. Both Oilzapper and Oilivorous-S can be used in situ, thereby eliminating the need to transfer large quantities of contaminated waste from the site, a process that poses more threats to the environment.
   
   
2. The clean up process is complete in itself as contaminants are not merely transfered from one environmental medium to another (from water to air or land) but destroyed.

The Oilzapper is neatly packed into sterile polythene bags sealed aseptically for safe transport. The shelf-life of the product is three months at ambient temperature.