Use of microorganism-immobilized polyurethane foams to absorb and degrade oil on water surface

Highly oil-absorbent polyurethane foam (PUF) materials were obtained by polymerizing polyether polyol mixture and carbodiimide-modified D-methyl diisocyanate in a weight ratio of 10.2. The foam materials were prepared to contain inorganic nutrients (slow-release fertilizer; SRF) and oil-degrading yeast cells, Yarrowia lipolytica 180, to be applied for removal of oil films on surface waters through absorption and biodegradation after oil spills. PUFs absorbed 7-9 times their own weight of Arabian light crude oil and the oil absorbency appeared to improve as the ratio of surface area to foam weight increased. PUFs showed excellent floatability which was maintained for more than 6 months in sea water, and less than 5% of the absorbed oil was released when the foams were left on water for more than 10 days. For immobilization of yeast cells into PUFs, various immobilization techniques were tested to compare their oil degrading ability and the maintenance thereof. All immobilized cells showed oil degrading abilities as good as those of free cells immediately after the preparation of PUFs, however, the activity of chitin-immobilized cells remained at a high level for the longest period of preservation. The high efficiency of oil absorption and oil degradation by PUF-immobilized yeast cells suggested that PUF-immobilized cells have a high potential as a bioremediation technique for the treatment of oil films on surface waters.