Remediation of petroleum hydrocarbons in contaminated groundwater with the use of surfactants and biosurfactants.

Remediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated groundwater is challenging due to the large volume of contaminated water, restricted aquifer access, and the recalcitrance of hydrocarbons. This study evaluates chemically-based surfactants (A and B, comprised of alcohols, esters and distillates from petroleum) and biosurfactants (C and BS, containing enzymes and microbial-derived surfactants) to enhance petroleum-hydrocarbon remediation. Surfactants/biosurfactants were evaluated under environmental conditions mimicking Arabic Region groundwater.

Characterization of microbiologically influenced corrosion by comprehensive metagenomic analysis of an inland oil field.

Corrosion in pipelines and reservoir tanks in oil plants is a serious problem in the global energy industry because it causes substantial economic losses associated with frequent part replacement and can lead to potential damage to entire crude oil fields. Previous studies revealed that corrosion is mainly caused by microbial activities in a process currently termed microbiologically influenced corrosion or biocorrosion. Identifying the bacteria responsible for biocorrosion is crucial for its suppression.

A novel cassette method for probe evaluation in the designed biochips.

A critical step in biochip design is the selection of probes with identical hybridisation characteristics. In this article we describe a novel method for evaluating DNA hybridisation probes, allowing the fine-tuning of biochips, that uses cassettes with multiple probes. Each cassette contains probes in equimolar proportions so that their hybridisation performance can be assessed in a single reaction.