As you can see from the following emails, Richmond-based CytoCulture has begun supplying CytoSol for the San Francisco Bay oil cleanup, and it appears that it will also be used in the Black Sea oil cleanup.

From: Vwedel@aol.com [mailto:Vwedel@aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2007 2:21 PM
Subject: Congratulations on CytoSol Delivery today

Congratulations, Ralph and Patrick, and all the 'CytoSol Group' for good team work and rapid response in delivery of our first two totes (300 gallons each) with pumps to the O'Briens Group facilities today. We had received a call from their logistics desk at 9 am and made the first tote delivery just after noon. I checked with both supply teams, they are happy with the delivery on such short notice.

At this time, the bulk of the CytoSol will be used for 'de-con' (decontamination of ships, boom, equipment) but it will also be used for continued evaluations in removing oil from rocky shores and riprap near the east end of the Bay Bridge. All shoreline work is under the approval and guidance of OSPR (CA Dept Fish & Game, Office of Oil Spill Prevention & Response). Small quantities of the BioSolvent (5 gallon containers) had been delivered yesterday to assist with applications in rocky shorelines where access is difficult - the smaller totes could be passed by hand from man to man for refilling hand sprayers used to apply the product as the tide recedes. We have no information yet as to whether the CytoSol was used on shorelines yesterday or today.

We remain in a standby mode ready to assist tomorrow with any technical support.

Thanks for your suggestions and input.

Randall

From: Vwedel@aol.com [mailto:Vwedel@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2007 8:49 AM
Subject: Re: CytoSol updates Monday morning

Hello friends and colleagues. A group of us are volunteering to help with the oil spill response and clean up by trying to give out samples of our CytoSol BioSolvent product to boat marinas, professional clean up crews and (when they are trained and authorized...) volunteer crews that are eager to help on oiled shorelines. As you may be aware, we developed the CytoSol BioSolvent and Process from 1994 to 1998 as an alternative means of removing fuel oil/crude oil from marshes and impacted shorelines where the oil has penetrated into the sediments. The CytoSol BioSolvent is essentially pure vegetable oil methyl esters (i.e., B100 biodiesel) blended with small amounts of nutrient (nitrogen & phosphorus liquid fertilizer) to enhance it's biodegradation in the environment. We spent years demonstrating the efficacy of the CytoSol as an aggressive solvent in all kinds of scenarios (simulated spills on sand and gravel shorelines, from bench top scale to 100 foot long enclosed artificial sand beaches in Corpus Christi, TX with Texas A&M). The product and technology has been published and presented at numerous conferences including the Oil Spill and Science Technology Bulletin (2001), American Oil Chemists Society Proceedings (both national and international conferences), International Conference on Effects of Oil Spills on Wildlife (1998), and Port Technology (1998). We produced a 10 min video that is now in DVD format. But again, it's been a long time and most people have forgotten about the research and the technology. Fortunately we have kept up our contacts with NOAA and they were still using slides about the CytoSol approach for their regional oil spill response training programs a few years ago.

The technology was developed with the help of a series of research grants from the USDA (via the United Soybean Board) from 1994 through 1998, and the CytoSol BioSolvent was licensed by the state of CA in 1997 as a shoreline cleaner. The product was listed in 1998 by the EPA on their National Contingency Plan (for oil spills) list of products available for use in the US (which had met the criteria set by the EPA in terms of data for efficacy, marine and aquatic toxicity, etc.), although the listing is not an EPA approval at all.

But as I said, despite several demonstration projects since then and participation in a number of smaller spills, it's been a long time and it is hard to get our technology back into the minds of agencies and officials working frantically to deal with the spill. Fortunately, some key personnel who are familiar with our CytoSol process are career staff and continue to work for the state's Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) within the CA Department of Fish and Game. This agency has the last say with respect to how oiled shorelines and marshes (including pilings at the Port, or beaches along the City waterfront) are treated.

Yesterday, I managed to 'penetrate' the security and entered the Incident Command Center yesterday with the good fortune and generous help of Mike Ferry, my top 'deputy' and volunteer team member in our CytoSol Group. As a senior SFFD fire fighter, he happened to have been assigned to the Treasure Island fire station (the City of SF owns that part of the island) and we simply walked over to the Center a few blocks away...and strolled right in behind him wearing his uniform and badge. Incredible. The Center was in the midst of a Press Interview (and obviously quite contentious as we gathered from the defending comments made by the USCG).

As we entered the room of scores of agency officials and reporters, we ran right into the key person we need to meet: Yvonne Addassi, the senior biologist and lead spokesperson for the Office of Spill Prevention and Response, CA Dept. Fish and Game. We worked with her closely over 10 years ago to develop the research protocols and conduct field tests under her guidance (along with 4 other OSPR officials) as we performed the requirements to get an OSPR License for CytoSol as an approved 'shoreline cleaner'.

Anyway, she was obviously under a lot of pressure, but she was gracious, seemed happy to see me and indicated they were way too busy 'putting out fires' and coordinating clean up crews, plus dealing with angry and frustrated volunteers and the press. She said she realized CytoSol could be a component of the clean up action, but suggested it would have to wait until they could focus on the recovery of oil from marshes, shoreline sediments and environmentally sensitive or public areas like marinas. No idea when that might happen, but she said she remembered the CytoSol Process and the advantages of the BioSolvent to 'lift and float' petroleum fuel oil from shorelines. She declined to review the CytoSol video that Mike had worked hard to transfer onto a DVD for them from our original 1998 VHS tape, but we will try again to get that DVD into the hands of the paid contractors like Polaris, O'Brien Group, MSRC and NRC. Also want to get copies of the DVD to Asia Yeary at EPA just so they are aware of the technology.

When I asked about participating in the volunteer clean up efforts, she said they would have a training class today Monday, although at that point, she didn't know where it would be held. We are hoping to offer the CytoSol to the volunteers assuming OSPR is comfortable with the idea of using it solely as a cleaning aid for hands, gloves, boots and gear that gets contaminated with oil. Otherwise we will hold off. The last thing we want to do is look like we are 'pushing a product' as opposed to offering assistance with free hand outs of small samples. This is why I look to Virginia and perhaps SF Dept. Environment for their suggestions, particularly since it appears likely there will be crews of volunteers allowed to work along the City's waterfront areas. Certainly there will have been impacted fishing boats and gear at the Wharf. We just want to make sure these people are prudent and don't use gasoline, thinner or diesel to clean their hands or gear. We are hoping we can offer the CytoSol as an alternative, depending on how the agencies respond to the idea.

Meanwhile we continue to pursue a chance to test the CytoSol on oiled birds. I hope to again 'penetrate' into one of the oiled bird rescue centers and see if we could get permission to work with one or two dead oiled birds just to conduct the most basic experiment comparing the 'established method' using Dawn detergent vs. what we propose, using CytoSol to wipe down the bird then rinse in very mild hand soap and warm water, to see if we might minimize the trauma to the bird and avoid the long recovery time (2 weeks rehab) by not removing the bird's natural feather oils so it stays waterproof and insulated, hence might be able to be set free immediately.

On the Berkeley marina water front, Mike dropped off literature with the marina management and I hope, with the help of Elise Brewster, to get our CytoSol samples (0.5 liter plastic bottles) over to the boat yard and marina for boaters to use for cleaning their oiled hulls using CytoSol on a rag since it instantly dissolves and wipes off the fuel oil easily compared to most cleaners (paint thinner, gasoline and diesel fuel work, but we really want people NOT to expose themselves or the water column to these toxic, noxious and flammable solvents).

I am hoping to get into one of the beach volunteer training sessions this morning. Updates to follow.

Thanks again for your offer to help; we will call on you when we need to mobilize more product.

Again, there is a synopsis of the CytoSol Process (and details on the CytoSol BioSolvent) on our ancient website at www.cytoculture.com, look for the CytoSol Process tab and download the article from Port Technology we published in 1998.

Any suggestions on how to best cope with the bureaucracy or any other helpful input would be much appreciated.  Even though the product was listed on the EPA's National Contingency Plan (for oil spills) List of Products and was officially licensed as a 'shoreline cleaner' by CA Dept Fish & Game/OSPR in 1997, it is a long time ago. We have done several demonstrations and responded successfully (with chemical analysis of the sediments before and after) to several spills since then (a major river spill in Ojai, and a creek spill near Santa Barbara) it is always like we are starting over especially with agencies and contractors that never heard of our technology.

Thanks for your time in reading this.

In closing, I just got word from our colleague (and co-developer of the CytoSol Process in late 1990s) Greg McGowan (now managing environmental services for LFR in Santa Maria, CA) that there has been a terrible crude oil spill involving tankers wrecked by a bad storm on the Black Sea....a much much larger castastrophe that will undoubtedly have major consequences on an otherwise beleaguered ecosystem. No wonder we have long pursued less toxic alternative liquid fuels like biodiesel... 

Randall von Wedel

CytoSol Group / CytoCulture

561-762-5440

From: Vwedel@aol.com [mailto:Vwedel@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2007 12:23 PM

Subject: Re: CytoSol for Black Sea oil spill

In a message dated 11/12/2007 1:27:06 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, klaus.vrey@gmx.de writes:

Good evening Dr. von Wedel,

first of all congratulations for your achievement to install the CYTOSOL - Process in the cleanup of SF - Bay.

Regarding the black sea spill, we would like to inform you, that we have been in very close contact with the Russian government to install the CYTOSOL - Process in Black Sea Cleanup.

I have been in Moscow last week, during a special fair for oil-spill cleanup and had a meeting with the Head of the Governmental Ecological Monitoring Department, Anatoly Iwanowitsch Masalevich, who was informed by Mr. Putin himself, to assist us during certification of the CYTOSOL - Process in Russia.

Regarding this, and the results of the tests worked out by Norwegian Government and Laboratories, we are actually waiting for next step and to start cleanup process in Black Sea.

We will keep you informed in due course

If possible, please date us also up with forthgoing actions in San Francisco.

Very best regards

GLOBAL  CONCEPT  GMBH

Klaus Vrey

Fantastic, Klaus. How wonderful and what good vision you had to be present at the oil spill clean up technology fair in Moscow last week. We applaud your efforts and want to support you in any way we can.

Last week I was in Vienna giving an oral presentation/slide show to the International Biodiesel Congress (sponsored by the American Oil Chemists Society) and I had dinner with Dr. Yosten Connemann from Leer. He is now retired from ADM but very active in the methyl ester industry. We want to keep him informed of progress in Europe and in Russia since they would be a prime supplier of the methyl ester to produce our CytoSol BioSolvent in Europe for transport to Asia (at least for initial batches of product). Dr. Connemann has very strong political contacts within the German government and may be able to help. I gave him a summary of CytoSol research studies (lab and field experiments) similar to what I gave you last year so he is more informed about early research results.

I will continue to organize files and paperwork to be sending to you or directly to Russia, so provide us with contacts and addresses to send in response to your request via Global Concept GMBH.

Thank you and congratulations. Randall