“Elementally Resolved Chemistry of the Evolution of the Gulf Spill Oil”
PI: Richard L. Kurtz
Co-PIs: Kyungmin Ham, Orhan Kizilkaya and Amitava Roy
Project Summary
This research project addresses the impact of oil and dispersants, by providing an
elementally-sensitive chemical analysis of their structures and composition and their
variation with time, weathering, and microbial action. Synchrotron radiation from LSU’s
Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD) provides unique analytical
tools that are specially suited for these studies providing information on composition,
speciation, molecular structure, and distribution within materials such as soils, plants and
ocean fauna. By evaluating samples from the riser, to the water column, the ocean
surface, and the coastal marshes, we will follow the evolution of the oil and its properties
and its impact on the environment.
This project will promote the further development of ongoing collaborations with LSU
faculty including Ed Overton (Environmental Sciences), Annette Engels (Department of
Geology and Geophysics), Ralph Portier (Environmental Sciences), as well as with Mark
Chappell (US Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, MS) and Josef Hormes of the
University of Bonn and the Canadian Light Source. All of these faculty and scientists
have distinguished records for their contributions. Some have been using synchrotron
radiation to understanding the environmental impact of toxic materials, and each brings
unique expertise to the field. We expect that this project will stimulate new collaborations
with additional faculty at LSU as the power of synchrotron methods are recognized. This
project will be used as leverage to provide initial high-quality studies that will lead to
federally funded projects.
Initial samples have been obtained from our collaborators named above and we will
continue to study their samples as well as those from others within the field. Using X-ray
absorption near edge spectroscopy measurements (XANES) on Deepwater Horizon riser
oil we have found that they contain vanadium and nickel and that the nickel is bound in a
planar porphyrin-like structure that is unchanged following an in-situ burn. We plan to
follow the changes in these compounds with samples collected from a variety of sites and
into coastal marshes.
In addition to chemical analysis, we can obtain spatial information on the distribution
of these metals and compounds within soils, living plant material and within ocean life
from foraminifera to crabs and oysters. IR and X-ray spectro-microscopy can be used to
evaluate the distribution of metals and organic constituents and X-ray micro-tomography
can provide a 3D data set with elementally sensitive imaging, showing the uptake and
distribution of oil components within both plant and animal species.
This project will enhance LSU’s research potential by exposing additional faculty,
who do not currently use synchrotron radiation, to the powerful tools that it can provide.
Furthermore the use of CAMD is at no cost to its users. It will build collaborations that
will go on to pursue additional funding for extending this research well into the future.
CAMD is also unique in its involvement of students in the research programs and in its
REU programs and it will continue to carry out its recognized excellence in outreach.
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The data collected here will be maintained within a data base of oil spill data and
provided to collaborators via a web portal.
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