Bioremediation Situation
3 ways how biology is helping us clean up the planet
Air, earth, and water are becoming more polluted because of the actions of humankind, both intentionally and accidentally. However, it is not only the environment, plants and animals that are affected but so are we. Various forms of pollution such as, sewage, oily wastes, heavy metals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and microplastics cancer cause harm by entering our bodies and disrupting the natural biological processes that keep us alive. These harmful substances also disrupt environmental processes.
The harmful substances discussed are highly resistant to natural degradation, taking centuries to break down in nature. Thus, humankind must intervene and take responsibility for our actions by remediation of our waste, with remediation meaning processes which repair damage done. The standard approaches to dealing with waste remediation are timely, however expensive, inefficient, and not environmentally friendly, they involve excavation, extraction, ion exchange or incineration of the contaminated material.
As a result of research and development ongoing into sustainable and renewable technologies, there are new environmentally friendly ways to clean up our waste which are cost effective and timely. Bioremediation is the use of specialized living organisms such as plants, bacteria, fungi, and other animals to clean up environmental waste. These specialized organisms can be found in other harsh unique environments, the contaminated site or they can be made in a lab by genetic engineering. Bacteria and fungi can degrade contaminants by producing substances known as enzymes. Enzymes are biological “workers” that do a specific task by speeding up its reaction. After the contaminants are broken down by bacteria and fungi, what is left is taken up by plants which immobilize it into their tissue such as roots, leaves, stems, and even seeds. The broken down or immobilized contaminants are now no longer as harmful because of the action of plants, bacteria, and fungi.
Research and development into new methods of cleaning up environmental contamination has proven successful, some of these are already in use, while others are still being developed. These innovative bioremediation technologies use the power of the living world combined with humankind's ingenuity to offer environmentally friendly solutions to remediate damage done. Below are 3 ways how sustainable technology and biology is being used to help clean our planet
Air :
In a bid to reduce carbon emissions, a company Living Carbon has used genetic engineering to modify Poplar trees so that they grow faster and use more carbon dioxide whilst simultaneously removing heavy metals from the soil. These genetically modified trees represent a sustainable cost-effective technology that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by removing them from the atmosphere and using it to make more plant tissue.
Volatile organic compounds or particulate matter are other harmful classes of substances in the air. Plants combined with bacteria and fungi living inside and on them can help remediate these contaminants. Although these compounds are damaging to the plants, the plants can withstand the stress because of the association they share with bacteria and fungi, together they can absorb and remove the contaminants from the air efficiently without great harm to the organisms involved.
Earth
Heavy metals, oil, pesticides, landfill leachate and other hazardous chemicals can be remediated with this use of plants, bacteria and fungi. Special plants bacteria and fungi are used in contaminated sites, the roots of the plants grow deep into contaminated soil, as the plant roots reach deeper so too can the associated bacteria and fungi with it. The bacteria and fungi breakdown the contaminant whilst the plant roots absorb what is left of it, thus over time it is reduced to safe levels within the environment. This method is applied to the remediation of multiple types of waste on land, however specific organisms must be used for each depending on the environment.
Water
Oil spills in water ways and oceans can be treated using bacteria that can break it down. The bacteria are applied to the spill, and it breaks it down into less harmful substances. Another method of treating oil spills and water contaminated by other substances such as sewage, heavy metal ions and other chemicals is the use of floating platforms containing plants. These floating platforms allow the plants to grow on the water, while their roots absorb and degrade the contaminants in it. Algae, duckweed, or water cabbage can also be used to remove contaminants from water at an enhanced rate using genetic engineering. For the treatment of sewage, a similar approach to earth remediation is used with plants bacteria and fungi. The bacteria and fungi are added to a filter which has the wastewater passing over it. As the wase water passes through the filter containing the microorganisms, the contaminants from it are removed.
The future is bright, we can save the planet with these biotechnological advancements. Increased bioremediation methods are being researched and applied, eventually they will become mainstream supplementing our current waste management systems or replacing them completely.
References
Son A. Hoang, Dane Lamb, Balaji Seshadri, Binoy Sarkar, Girish Choppala, M.B. Kirkham, Nanthi S. Bolan,
Rhizoremediation as a green technology for the remediation of petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soils,
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Yang Han, Jechan Lee, Gu Haiping, Ki-Hyun Kim, Peng Wanxi, Neha Bhardwaj, Jong-Min Oh, Richard J.C. Brown,
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By Llevan Ramharrack
MSc Biotechnology