Class Note 1974
Issue
The news this cycle was particularly timely and relevant, given the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. After Dartmouth Randall von Wedel earned a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco and worked in basic medical research and the biotechnology industry. In 1986 he founded CytoCulture International to apply his science to environmental clean-up technologies and bioremediation. CytoCulture, based in Point Richmond, California, developed a process to facilitate the recovery of spilled heavy petroleum from shorelines in ecologically sensitive marine and aquatic habitats. The process uses a biosolvent formulated with components of vegetable oils and nutrients to enhance the biodegradation of hydrocarbons and to dissolve weathered crude oil from shoreline habitats such as beaches, marshes and wetlands. Remediation crews apply the biosolvent to the contaminated surfaces and then spray seawater to rinse the dissolved petroleum mixture off the plants and shoreline for recovery on the water by mechanical skimmers. Ships and power plants can use the recycled petroleum/biosolvent mixture as burner fuel. Randall spent three weeks in Louisiana in May pulling together a remediation team of technologists, engineering firms, academic researchers and laboratories to respond to the spill, but as of this writing at the end of June they were still waiting for BP and the Coast Guard to engage and deploy them to help flush and clean up the oiled marshes. Randall has used this biosolvent technology successfully on oil spills in Puerto Rico, Spain, Japan, Alaska and the San Francisco Bay, as well as riverbeds in California and Utah. Even away from work Randall is not far from the water. He is an avid boater, splitting time between sailing on the San Francisco Bay and cruising off the coast of Florida. Biodiesel powers the engines of both crafts, of course.
Please send me your news!
—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com
Sept - Oct 2010
The news this cycle was particularly timely and relevant, given the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. After Dartmouth Randall von Wedel earned a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco and worked in basic medical research and the biotechnology industry. In 1986 he founded CytoCulture International to apply his science to environmental clean-up technologies and bioremediation. CytoCulture, based in Point Richmond, California, developed a process to facilitate the recovery of spilled heavy petroleum from shorelines in ecologically sensitive marine and aquatic habitats. The process uses a biosolvent formulated with components of vegetable oils and nutrients to enhance the biodegradation of hydrocarbons and to dissolve weathered crude oil from shoreline habitats such as beaches, marshes and wetlands. Remediation crews apply the biosolvent to the contaminated surfaces and then spray seawater to rinse the dissolved petroleum mixture off the plants and shoreline for recovery on the water by mechanical skimmers. Ships and power plants can use the recycled petroleum/biosolvent mixture as burner fuel. Randall spent three weeks in Louisiana in May pulling together a remediation team of technologists, engineering firms, academic researchers and laboratories to respond to the spill, but as of this writing at the end of June they were still waiting for BP and the Coast Guard to engage and deploy them to help flush and clean up the oiled marshes. Randall has used this biosolvent technology successfully on oil spills in Puerto Rico, Spain, Japan, Alaska and the San Francisco Bay, as well as riverbeds in California and Utah. Even away from work Randall is not far from the water. He is an avid boater, splitting time between sailing on the San Francisco Bay and cruising off the coast of Florida. Biodiesel powers the engines of both crafts, of course.
Please send me your news!
—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com