Two ISU professors received funding to begin research on greener methods of oil cleanup, specifically in the Gulf of Mexico, through the National Science Foundation’s rapid response grant.

Buddhi Lamsal, assistant professor of food science and human nutrition, and Charles Glatz, professor of chemical and biological engineering, will be collaborating with Modular Genetics Inc., Columbia University and Louisiana State University to produce bio-dispersants. These are natural-based products that break up oil, that may replace petrochemical dispersants, which are oil-based products that are currently used for oil spill management.

“When you have oil-water mixtures, they don’t blend, so the oil globs up,” Glatz said. “The surfactant goes to the interface between the two, where they touch, and disperses the oil globs as much smaller droplets that are more readily degraded.”

The work that will be done at Iowa State will involve Lamsal’s work with genetically modified organisms, called Bacillus, provided by Modular Genetics. These organisms are engineered to produce a collection of surfactants, each with subtle differences. Lamsal will work with the organism to improve the quantity of surfactants produced through the process of fermentation.

“We will receive one strain that is genetically modified to produce one ‘green’ chemical, since it will be derived from a natural source, which will serve a petroleum substitute,” Lamsal said. “This chemical will be useful in breaking down oil in oil spills.”

The second stage in the research entails the purification of the complex, impure mixture that results from fermentation. Glatz will head the purification efforts.

Once testing from Iowa State is completed, the results will be sent to Columbia University and to LSU to characterize the surface properties and test its effectiveness in breaking down oil. Another important focus of the experiment is making sure that the product of the research works without harming sea life.

The project will begin Wednesday and has a one year span.

“[This research] is preparing for the future, but on the other hand some of the material in the gulf is in deposits that will be there for a long time if not treated, so in one year the results from this project could still be put to use,” Glatz said.