Oil Zapper

The new technique of using the bacteria to get rid of oil spill has been called “Oil Zapping”. Oil Zapping is a bio-remediation technique involving the use of ‘oil zapping’ bacteria. It was recently employed to clean up the Mumbai shoreline affected by the oil spill that occurred in August 2010.

The Mumbai Oil Spill happened when a merchant vessel M V Khalijia collided with a cargo ship MSC Chitra 10 km off the coast of Mumbai. MSC Chitra tilted 15 degrees soon after the collision but there was no loss of life. The cargo ship eventually tilted to about 80 degrees dropping around 250 containers into the sea. Before the spill could be plugged 400 tons of oil had leaked into the sea.

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board used the services of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) which has developed the oil zapping bacteria. TERI had developed this technique over a period of seven years. The Oil Zapping project was supported by the Department of Biotechnology (Government of India) and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

How does Oil Zapper Work?

There are five different bacterial strains that are immobilized and mixed with a carrier material such as powdered corncob. This mixture of five bacteria is called Oil Zapper. Oilzapper feeds on hydrocarbon compounds present in crude oil and the hazardous hydrocarbon waste generated by oil refineries, known as Oil Sludge and converts them into harmless CO2 and water. The Oilzapper is neatly packed into sterile polythene bags and sealed aseptically for safe transport. The shelf life of the product is three months at ambient temperature.

The technique was used successfully and 130,000 tons of oily sludge/ oil contaminated soil was treated as per the leading news sources.


8 Comments

  1. ganeshpanghate

    August 21, 2011 at 11:39 pm

    i like this technique.

  2. anu

    September 8, 2011 at 11:38 am

    thank u 4r d information

  3. tarun

    September 15, 2011 at 7:47 am

    its awesome….very good technique

  4. Puneeth d poojary

    February 29, 2012 at 8:06 pm

    Its awesome technique……boon for the mother nature……

  5. cselavarasi

    May 18, 2012 at 10:11 pm

    it s helpful tis link..good techique…

  6. rajkumar

    July 28, 2015 at 11:36 pm

    … Nic work… Nd good technology

  7. Erick

    August 4, 2018 at 4:38 am

    Kudos to Oil Zapper!

    AMCOR SORBE Oil Clean up is to protect the Balance of
    our fragile Environment our Ecosystem before it tips to the
    Negative and the point of no Return!

    AMCOR SORBE at AMCORCO.COM (see short video)
    No Chemical
    No Carcinogens
    Green Eco Friendly
    100% Natures Best, you cannot get better!
    May you continue to Drink Fresh clean toxin free
    bacteria free water, may you continue to Breath
    toxin free OXYGEN!

    Working to Keep it Clean and Keep it
    “ENVIRONMENTALLY GREEN!”
    <

  8. Anupam Yadav

    June 4, 2020 at 11:07 am

    So, I think Environmental impact analysis of aquatic life will have been done as the oil spill prevent the dissolution of oxygen in water. Have the Maharashtra polution control board taken necessary major of aquatic life conservation?

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