Biosurfactants as Agents of Marine Oil Spill Response in the North: Production, Mechanism, Effectiveness and Impact

海洋石油泄漏会对环境造成有害和长期的不利影响。由于对北冰洋和北大西洋石油和天然气开发的兴趣和活动日益增长，人们广泛认识到的重大挑战是意外石油泄漏的风险不断增加，以及迫切需要适合寒冷海洋环境的新的或改进的生态友好型响应技术。由于对脆弱海洋生态系统的强烈关注、对当地（原住民）社区的长期影响以及严峻的技术和后勤挑战，大多数传统的溢油应对方法在这种环境下都会出现问题。因此，迫切需要改进寒冷海水中海洋溢油响应的知识和开创性技术，并具有潜在的重大科学和实用价值。 *** 为了帮助应对这些挑战，本拟议研究计划的短期目标是：a）通过探索其生产、机制、有效性和影响，开发新方法来全面研究和开发基于生物表面活性剂的生物分散剂作为北方海洋溢油响应剂，b）建立专业知识并培训该领域的高素质人员（HQP）。长期目标是：a）将申请人当前的研究和培训项目发展成为海洋溢油应急响应领域世界领先的团队；b）推进科学基础并产生新的工程解决方案，以满足提高溢油和寒冷海洋应急响应知识和能力的长期紧迫需求。为了实现这些目标，关键任务包括1）生产生物表面活性剂的混合体，2）提高生物表面活性剂的产量，3）生物分散剂的形成和性能/归宿评估，4）生物分散剂的波浪池检查，5）生物分散后海洋溢油的生物降解，6）协同效应对生物分散油生物降解的影响，以及7）评估过程中的微生物活动生物分散油生物降解。*** 拟议的研究计划和预期成果将是加拿大首个此类研究计划，通过在寒冷的海洋环境中开发生物表面活性剂辅助生态友好型海洋溢油应对措施。它将改善加拿大北部及其他地区的环境和生物工程知识以及海洋保护的新颖实验方法。还将创建和推进独特的多学科环境，为研究人员提供总部培训和合作研究机会。该研究旨在通过提供环保和强有力的方法、提高其响应能力并直接支持加拿大新的海洋保护计划，为加拿大工业界、政府和北部/原住民社区带来重大的短期和长期利益。

Marine oil spills can lead to harmful and long-term adverse impact on the environment. Due to the growing interest and activities in oil and gas development in the Arctic and Northern Atlantic oceans, significant challenges that have been widely recognized are the increasing risk of accidental oil spills and the pressing need for new or improved eco-friendly response technologies suitable for cold marine environments. Most of the traditional spill response methods become problematic in such environments due to the strong concerns on the fragile marine ecosystems, the long-term impact on local (aboriginal) communities, as well as the severe technical and logistical challenges. Thus, improved knowledge and pioneering technologies for marine oil spill response in cold seawaters are much desired with potentially significant scientific and practical values. *** To help address the challenges, the short-term goals of this proposed research program are: a) to develop new approaches to comprehensively investigate and develop biosurfactant-based bio-dispersants as agents for marine oil spill response in the north by exploring their production, mechanisms, effectiveness and impacts, and b) to build expertise and train highly qualified personnel (HQP) in the field. The long-term goals are a) to grow the applicant's current research and training program into a world-leading group in marine oil spill response, and b) to advance the scientific base and generate new engineering solutions to address the long-term pressing needs of improving the knowledge and capability in oil spills and responses in cold oceans. To achieve the these goals, the key tasks include 1) generation of biosurfactant producing hybrids, 2) enhancement of biosurfactant production, 3) formation of bio-dispersants and performance/fate evaluation, 4) wave tank examination of bio-dispersants, 5) biodegradation of marine spilled oil after bio-dispersion, 6) impact of synergistic effects on bio-dispersed oil biodegradation, and 7) evaluation of microbial activities during bio-dispersed oil biodegradation.*** The proposed research program and the expected outcomes will be the first of its kind in Canada by developing biosurfactant aided eco-friendly marine oil spill responses in cold ocean environments. It will lead to improved environmental and biological engineering knowledge and novel experimental methodologies for ocean protection within northern Canada and beyond. Unique multi-disciplinary environments will also be created and advanced for HQP training and collaborative research opportunities for researchers. The research aims to bring significant short- and long-term benefits to Canadian industry, government and northern/aboriginal communities by providing eco-friendly and robust approaches, improving their response capabilities, and directly supporting Canada's new Ocean Protection Plan.