Robin Brigmon
Using Microbes to Recover Oil
April / May 2010
Volume 8 Number 2
When Robin Brigmon, an engineer at the Savannah River National Laboratory, observes the results of a new experiment, he still finds the same excitement that drew him to the field as a student. At first, environmental microbiology appealed to him because it satisfied both his curiosity and his impatience. “What got me interested and excited was being able to put something in a lab and come back the next morning to see what grew or what didn’t,” he says. “I liked seeing results overnight, unlike a farmer, who has to wait weeks until things start to grow. And with microscopy,” he adds, “you can actually see what’s happening in real time.”
He soon learned, however, that there was another attraction: microbiology can be used to make a difference, although sometimes it requires a little patience. “I went to school with Amy Sabin, whose father discovered the Sabin vaccine,” he says. “That affected my thinking. I started to understand that I could make a difference and at the same time understand things.”
Today, that curiosity, joy from experimentation, and the patience he has learned along the way have paid off, and he is indeed using microbiology to make a difference in a variety of fields. He first encountered one of his best-known projects—the BioTiger™ microbial consortium—in the early 1990s, not long after he was hired by the lab. Today, he is continuing to find new ways to make that same collection of microbes beneficial.
The Department of Energy had originally funded the lab to work with the Polish government on a natural microbial-based approach to cleaning up oil-contaminated soils. Working at a century-old Polish waste lagoon, the team isolated a group of microbes that could break down the oil to carbon dioxide and other non-hazardous products. “The project was a great success,” Brigmon says, still relishing the ability to see tangible results from his work. “The lagoon now has been cleaned up, and deer now can be seen grazing on it.”
As he and his colleagues continued to work with BioTiger, applying it for cleanup at DOE sites in the U.S., they began to think about how they could use its other properties. They discovered potential for use as a cleaning or degreasing agent, and they found that the surfactants it produced would bind with metals in the soil, allowing metal contamination to be removed for disposal or even recycling.
In the laboratory, they noticed something else. “When we would work with it in flasks in the laboratory, we would see improved separation of oil from petroleum-contaminated soil with the addition of BioTiger. That started us thinking about the idea of using it to recover oil.” They had a few phone calls and meetings with people in the field, and determined that there was interest in a product that could enhance the recovery of oil from oil sands. Oil sands represent about 40 percent of Canada's oil production, but extracting oil from these sands is more complex and requires more energy than standard oil recovery, and there have been concerns about the environmental impact of these vast mining operations.
“There had been previous work on microbes to recover oil, but those were very different applications,” he says. “Some injected microbes underground to produce gas that would bubble up. Others would inject microbes to block pores. This is the first technology to actually separate oil from oil sands.” Testing so far has been encouraging, and several parties have expressed interest in pursuing its potential.
His other current projects provide him other opportunities to use his expertise to make a difference. Take, for example, his work with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, teaching biological weapons of mass effect awareness training. “We don’t try to turn them into microbiologists,” he says, “Just show them what things might look like and the importance of what they are doing.”
Or look at his work to address the problem of mold in homes and other buildings, particularly after hurricanes or other disasters. When wood or other materials inside a home gets wet, molds can find a hospitable location to grow and cause health problems. Molds produce allergens, irritants, and in some cases, potentially toxic substances. Together with Mississippi State University and Tuskegee University, he is taking part in a program to evaluate different building materials for their mold resistance. This work grew out of the Department of Homeland Security’s Resilient Home Program, which seeks to enable community recovery following a natural disaster by speeding the return of residents to their homes. Another advantage for him is the opportunity to join with other people in a team approach. “I like working with chemists, engineers, and others as a part of a team. Everybody brings something different to the project, and together, you can really accomplish something.
“As a kid,” he says, “I heard about polio or things in the water that could harm us. Things like that cause fear. Even today, when we’ve beaten polio and so many other challenges, there are others out there—disease, food contaminants. What’s gratifying is to know that with research and work, we can tackle them, too.”
Angeline French is communications lead at the Savannah River National Laboratory.
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