Serratia-The 4T Engine oil degrader

During the previous years, the frequency and risk of oil pollution has led to extensive research. Most of the petroleum goes in the ecosystem via leakage of coastal oil refineries. This fact evoked the interest of scientists to investigate the oil distribution system and its fate in the environment, especially the marine environment. Approximately five million tons of crude oil and refined oil enter the environment each year as a result of anthropogenic sources such as oil spills (1). Past analysis of reported oil spills indicate that most of the oil comes from tankers, barges and other vessels as well from land pipeline spills. Extensive changes in marine, as well as terrestrial ecosystems resulting from the grounding of the Exxon Valdez (1989). The Nahodka oil spill, the Erica spill (1999) and the Prestige spill (2002), have recently increased the attention of environmentalists, chemists, biotechnologists and engineers [2,3]. The recent spill of more than 200,000 barrels of crude oil from the oil tanker Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sound Alaska [4], as well as smaller spills in Texas, Rhode Island, and the Delaware Bay, have refocused attention on the problem of hydrocarbon contamination in the environment. It is estimated that the annual global input of petroleum is between 1.7 and 8.8 million metric tons, the majority of which is derived from anthropogenic sources [4].