The History of Bioremediation

600 BC

Bioremediation was first discovered around 600 BC by the ancient Romans. The primary function of one of their sewers, Cloaca Maxima was to carry off storm water from the Forum district to the Tiber, but in Imperial times large public baths and latrines were connected to it. Although their versions of the process aren't as developed as today's, they were still able to make use of microorganisms to clean their waste water. T1,T2,T3

Domitian-era-section-of-the-Cloaca-under

1968

The microbes were put to the test in a real life situation; bioremediation was used to try and clean out fuel tanks on the RMS Queen Mary. The attempt was successful and ever since then, scientists have been using and improving these microbes. T1,T7

1975

"Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty ‒ a microbiologist working for General Electrics – designed the first genetically engineered oil degrading bacterium, from the genus Pseudomonas." T9

1990

After the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the U.S. Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, signed by President George H.W. Bush. It increased penalties for companies responsible for oil spills and required that all oil tankers in United States waters have a double hull. T11,T12

1960

The process of bioremediation is officially invented by George M. Robinson. While working as a petroleum engineer in California, Robinson experimented with mixtures of microbes inside of polluted glass jars in his garage. While mixing bacterial cultures with petroleum products, he figured out that they could be a potential “cure” for the numerous oil spills, and to help improve the management of waste. In 1968, he successfully applied his microbial mixture onto a commercial oil spill (the RMS Queen Mary). T1,T6,T8

1972

The United States government passes the Clean Water Act, which mandated that secondary treatment, or the use of microorganisms to “convert the carbonaceous (organic) materials in the wastewater to carbon dioxide, water and energy for re-growth” be used to treat wastewater. T4,T5

On March 24, 1989 the oil tanker Exxon Valdez collided into Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and spilled an estimated 11 million gallons (42 million liters) of crude oil that spread as a surface slick. This was the worst U.S. oil spill disaster at this time. Removal of the oil using physical washing and collection was difficult, so bioremediation was introduced as an alternative to continuing treatment of the shoreline. T10,T11

1989

2010

"On April 20, 2010, high-pressure oil and gas escaped from BP’s Deepwater Horizon exploratory well in Mississippi Canyon Block 252 which was located 77 km offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig burned and ultimately sank in 1500 m of water 2 days later. The blowout prevention device (BOP) at the wellhead and all the emergency shut-off equipment failed.

Upon sinking, the 21 in. (53 cm) riser pipe, from the wellhead to the drilling platform, collapsed onto the sea floor. Oil leaked from multiple locations along the riser pipe and the top of the BOP. In all, it took 84 days to stop the flow of oil from the Deepwater Horizon well." T10,T13