Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology – Measuring or testing process involving enzymes or... – Involving nucleic acid
Patent
1992-12-29
1997-09-09
Jones, W. Gary
Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology
Measuring or testing process involving enzymes or...
Involving nucleic acid
436 56, 436 27, 44600, 44628, 435 912, C12Q 168
Patent
active
056655380
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a method and procedure which enables any material (liquid or solid) to be traced from one location to another and in particular to a method of tracing the origin of petroleum products such as oils.
There is a widespread requirement to be able to trace the path taken by a given material as it moves from one location to another. In general terms two broad categories of material movement are encountered. Firstly, the movement of materials as a result of natural processes occurring in the biosphere. For example, the flow of water in sub-surface aquifers, or the movement and partitioning of water bodies as seen in ocean currents, or the movement of sediments. Secondly, the movement of materials which have been manufactured by man (i.e. items which do not occur in the natural environment) or which are natural materials being transported as a result of man's activities. The former would include any item produced by man, the latter would include items such as grain (or other food materials), mineral ores or petroleum products such as crude oil.
In all these situations, there may be reasons why it is necessary to develop specific procedures to trace these movements. It might be that direct observation is not practicable, for example, following the path taken by a stream flowing underground cannot be directly observed at all points in its passage. It might be that it is necessary to monitor the movement of goods without the direct knowledge of the transporters. It might be that for legal reasons it is necessary to prove that the appearance of a material at a particular point in the biosphere was due to the same material originating from a known starting point. Whatever the reason, be it of scientific or commercial interest, accurate, quantifiable, reliable and preferably unique tracing procedures are required.
One detailed requirement which illustrates the features generally described above may be the following. It is undesirable and in certain circumstances illegal, for petroleum materials to leak from storage sites or transportation containers and contaminate the natural environment. Usually petrol storage tanks (for example, at petrol filling stations) are located underground. Normally there is more than one tank at each site. Should one of these tanks develop a leak, eventually the loss of material will be detected either by audits on the material being added to and removed from the storage tank, or by detection of spilt, leakage material at some site adjacent to the storage tank area. Since the tanks are underground visual inspection is not possible and it is a costly procedure to excavate and determine which tank may be leaking. The normal procedure would be to develop a protocol whereby a known material, for example, a dye, is added to the tanks and by tracing the movement of the dye determine which tank is the cause of the leakage. Cheaper remedial action can then be taken to deal with the identified leaking tank. A feature of this procedure is that the materials added to each tank must be different in order to know which tank is leaking (i.e. if there are six tanks, six different dyes recognisable by some property which can be accurately and uniquely determined need to be used). The greater the number of individual components in a particular system the greater the number of unique traces need to be used to make the necessary distinction between the paths taken by different leaks from different tanks.
A further requirement concerns the identification of the source of pollution in the sea and waterways from spills of petroleum materials, particularly oil. The environmental damage caused by accidental oil spills and deliberate dumping of oil by ships, e.g. when washing tanks, is significant and there is a demand for the culprits to be identified and to be held responsible for clean-up operations. One of the problems associated with the identification of oil samples in large volumes of aqueous media e.g. an oil slick in the sea, is that any microtrace or identifier introduced in
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Minton John Edward
Slater James Howard
Atzel Amy
Jones W. Gary
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