We are pleased to announce that Eleftheria Antoniou, post-doctoral researcher at the Technical University of Cere (GRC), will give the SFB 1313 "Pretty Porous Science Lecture" #62. Her talk will be on "High pressure technologies for the study of hydrocarbon bioremediation in deep sea".
Date: 4 February 2025
Time: 4 pm CET
Speaker: Dr. Eleftheria Antoniou, Technical University of Crete (Greece)
Title: "High pressure technologies for the study of hydrocarbon bioremediation in deep sea"
Venue: Multi Media Lab (MML), U1.003, Pfaffenwaldring 61, 70569 Stuttgart, Campus Vaihingen
Abstract
Oil and gas exploration activities in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMS) are currently in progress at depths similar or greater than those where the Deepwater Horizon blowout occurred. The vast majority of studies addressing the microbial community response to oil contamination in the deep sea have been conducted at atmospheric pressure or at in situ pressure following decompression during sample retrieval, despite that pressure has been acknowledged as a critical factor affecting the function of microbial communities. While site-specific research is required in order to develop effective bioremediation protocols, the self-healing ability of the EMS through biodegradation after a potential deep oil spill has not been addressed so far under in situ pressure conditions. In this study, the effect of pressure, crude oil and dispersant on deep EMS microbial communities was studied using un-decompressed (HP treatment) and depressurized (REPRESS treatment) deep-sea water.
This research was funded by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT) and the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) projects DEEPSEA– Bioremediation of hydrocarbon releases in Deep Sea, HEALMED - Determination of the self-healing capabilities of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to accidental deep-sea oil releases, and X-PRESS - EXtreme environments: High PRESsure Sampling and experimentation system for deep sea hydrocarbon releases.
References
Antoniou, E.; Kalogerakis, N. Laboratory testing of dispersant effectiveness at high pressures Can. J. Chem. Eng 2023, 101(2), pp. 772–781
Antoniou E, Fragkou E, Charalampous G, Marinakis D, Kalogerakis N, Gontikaki E (2022) Emulating deep-sea bioremediation: Oil plume degradation by undisturbed deep-sea microbial communities using a high-pressure sampling and experimentation system. Energies 15(13), 4525.
Charalampous G, Fragkou E, Kormas KA, De Menezes AB, Polymenakou PN, Pasadakis N, Kalogerakis N, Antoniou E, Gontikaki E (2021) Comparison of Hydrocarbon-Degrading Consortia from Surface and Deep Waters of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: Characterization and degradation potential. Energies 14(8), 2246
Guests in the framework of the Erasmus+ Mobility Program
Dr. Eleftheria Antoniou visits the Univerity of Stuttgart together with her colleague Dr. Sofia Nerantzaki, who is a post-doctoral researcher at the Technical University of Crete as well. They are visiting the University of Stuttgart in the framework of the Erasmus+ Mobility Program from 3 to 7 February 2025 and will be staying at the Institute for Applied Mechanics to meet their colleague and our SFB 1313 guest Prof. Dr. Andreas Yiotis.
About Dr. Eleftheria Antoniou
Dr. Eleftheria Antoniou is a Chemical Engineer currently Laboratory Teaching Staff at Technical University of Crete in the Department of Mineral Resources Engineering. EA’s research interest focuses in emulation of deep-sea conditions ex-situ and has extensive experience in bioremediation of hydrocarbons in surface and deep waters, as well as high-pressure experimentation set up with or without dispersant application, biosurfactant production and purification, and analytical chemistry techniques (GC-MS, TLC, FT-IR, LC-MS). EA received her Diploma in Chemical Engineering from National Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 2001 and MEng and PhD in Chemical Engineering from The State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY) in 2008.
About Dr. Sofia Nerantzaki
Dr. Sofia Nerantzaki is a Civil Engineer with a specialization in Hydraulics, and currently Laboratory Teaching Staff at The School of Mineral Resources Engineering, TUC. Her research interests focus on hydrologic and hydraulic modeling of surface/sub-surface flow, modeling of sediment transport, fluid flow through porous media, statistical and stochastic analysis of hydroclimatic variables, and assessment of climate change impact. SN received her Diploma in Civil Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 2012, and her MEng (2014) and PhD (2020) in Environmental Engineering from the Technical University of Crete (TUC).