A bioengineered approach for sustainable crude oil pollution treatment via entrapment, dispersal and removal using Nano-CarboScavenger

Aqueous petroleum contamination continues to threaten life-dependent bodies of water and surrounding ecosystems including human habitation. It is now well established that most methods of petroleum remediation are either inefficient or involve highly toxic chemical dispersants. In this work we adopt a commercially-amenable nanotechnology based approach to design tunable, biodegradable particles for efficient and safe petroleum remediation. Exhaustively characterized 100 nm sized hybrid dual-shelled polymeric (PS275-b-PAA50) and carbon-cored nanoarchitectures (Nano-CarboScavengers or NCS) were derived predominantly from natural carbohydrate sources and designed for a multipurpose oil sequestration and dispersion agent that is environmentally undisruptive. NCS distribution on crude oil contaminated water was found to combine both absorption and dispersion mechanisms to treat a maximum of 80% of the pollution, while NCS distribution on a petroleum distillate mixture efficiently treated 91% of the pollution by absorption alone. NCS exposure to Zebrafish, Vibrio fischeri, and MCF-7 were performed in vitro and were found to be remarkably un‐inhibitive with LD50: 8 g/L, EC50: 1.28 g/L and IC50: 4 g/L respectively. This far exceeds expected NCS exposure (ENE) of 1x10-5 g/L in bodies of water. Finally, NCS degraded in the presence of human myeloperoxidase (HMPO) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP), suggesting any incidental biological uptake can be enzymatically digested in living systems.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Bioengineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Daza, Enrique A.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Pan, Dipanjan

• crude oil
• petroleum
• spill
• oil
• nanotechnology
• sustainability
• Nano-CarboScavenger
• dispersion
• dispersant
• absorption
• nanoparticle
• bioengineering

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2015 Enrique Daza

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/88311

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/88311