Program Item Details
TITLE: Dr. Xiaomei Li, Senior Research Scientist, Environmental Technologies Business Unit, Alberta Research Council
SUBJECT: #126 ARC Tests New Biolubricant For Chainsaws
SYNOPSIS: ..
AUDIO: Download Audio (mp3 format)
TRANSCRIPT:
Interview starts at 9:23
Intro: Also part of the team testing the biolubricant was Dr. Xiaomei Li, a senior scientist in the environmental technologies unit at the Alberta Research Council. Her job was to look at the environmental impact of the biolubricant.
Dr. Xiaomei Li
XL: We basically did three tests . All are based on a Canada soil test. An assumption was made that, because of this use for the chainsaw, in case there was a little bit of a spill, normally you’re talking about forest land or agriforest land, and how well that will affect the vegetation.
The three tests we did, the first two are considered ecotoxicity tests, and one is we at the Alberta Research Council have developed a really simple quick test at the Alberta Research Council using seeds. In this case we chose lettuce which is a sensitive species to any kind of a contaminant. We put lubricant into the soil, and we put the seeds on top to see if the seeds will germinate or not. Germination is a wonderful indicator as well. The more toxic it is, the plants will have a tough time to germinate
After germination you see how quick the root grows and also the shoots, we measured how long the root and shoot can grow in a certain period of time.
CC: WHAT DID YOU FIND IN COMPARING THE TWO DIFFERENT OILS, THE CONVENTIONAL AND THE BIO LUBRICANT?
XL: We find out that biolubricant has much less impact to the root growth than the conventional lubricant in the concentration we tested.
CC: SO WERE THE LETTUCE ROOTS LONGER?
XL: Yes, indeed, they grew longer in the certain time.
CC: AND WHAT WAS THE SECOND TEST?
XL: The second test we looked at the soil microbe community. The soil is quite alive, right, with so many micro bacteria and fungus in there. And if any environmental pollutants come to the soil, the damage they could do is wipe out a certain microbial population. That’s the second test we did. We find out the biolubricant has much less impact in comparing conventional oil.
CC: AND THE THIRD TEST?
XL: And the third test we call the biodigestibility to see if this lubricant is put in the soil, how fast can it be degraded. And in this case, a biolubricant degrades much faster than the conventional oil.
CC: HOW DOES IT DEGRADE?
XL: Basically there’s a microbrial breakdown. They use carbon as their energy source and they breakdown to water and carbon.
CC: WHAT IS YOUR OVERALL THOUGHTS HAVING DONE THE TEST AND HAVING LOOKED AT THE RESULTS. WHAT IS YOUR OVERALL CONCLUSION?
XL: From only these three tests, I would say it’s a quick test, and not very comprehensive yet, but based on those three tests, they indicate the biolubricant has much less environmental impact compared to conventionallubricant.
CC: NOW THAT YOU COMPLETED ALL THIS, DO YOU SEE THAT THERE IS MORE WORK TO BE DONE?
XL: Yes, I think this is only from the environmental side, we only did the three quick tests. I would like to see a little bit longer term, to see how it works in a real situation and do some field tests that would be more meaningful.
CC: THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
XL: You’re welcome. Thank you.
Dr. Xiaomei Li is a senior research scientist in the Environmental technologies unit at the Alberta Research Council. I also spoke with her colleague Tom Kosik.
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