I've been following the thread about organic fertilizer,

and I would like to offer a few simple thoughts. First,

Inipol is a emulsion that contains urea as the nitrogen

form, sodium laureth phosphate as the phosphorus

source, oleic acid as an organic carrier, and the

surfactant 2-butoxyethanol. The nitrogen form, urea, is

not "organic" in the strict sense of the word. When it is

added to the environment, microorganisms catalyze

the breakdown of urea into ammonium and carbon

dioxide. So, the real nitrogen form is inorganic

ammonium. When Inipol directly contacts water, urea

is released almost immediately as the emulsion breaks

down. So, what you have in an oiled shoreline

situation that has been treated with Inipol is an

environment that contains released forms of

ammonium, oleic acid (which is a fatty acid, not a

hydrocarbon), an organic form of phosphorus, and a

little 2-butoxyethanol. The oleic acid enriches for the

growth of alkane degraders, not necessarily PAH

degraders. Thus, inorganic fertilizer should

theoretically work to stimulate oil degraders just as

well if not better than Inipol, since metabolic energy is

not wasted degrading the oleic acid prior to the

biodegradation of the hydrocarbons and PAH

degraders would not be masked by the huge increase

in oleic acid degraders followed by alkane degraders.

Of course, one must also account for the large

increase in the BOD caused by the extra carbon from

the oleic acid. 

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For soil applications, the highly viscous Inipol must be

able to penetrate the soil deeply enough to reach the

contamination. Depending on the hydraulic

conductivity of the particular soil being treated, it is

doubtful that Inipol would penetrate deeply enough to

be a real benefit as an in-situ application technique.