ENVIRONMENTAL

BIOTECHNOLOGY
P R E PA R E D BY :

D I V I N E G R A C E S . B AT E N G A , M S C . , L P T
 What is environment?

Describes everything that Other organisms

surrounds a particular
organism..

Solar radiation
wind Organism

soil

water
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What happened
to our
environment?
L A RG E - S C A L E U R B A N I Z AT I O N A N D
I N D U S T R I A L I Z AT I O N H A S L E D TO E N V I R O N M E N TA L
P O L LU T I O N A N D D E T E R I O R AT I O N .

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Over decades...

❖Different types of conservation

strategies have been employed
to preserve global resources.

❖However, no fundamental
solution has been attained.

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 Scientific
Community

Applications of
Biotechnology

Governmental
Agencies

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What is BIOTECHNOLOGY?

• Any technique that uses living organisms (or parts

of organisms) to make or modify products, to
improve plants or animals, or to develop
microorganisms for specific use.

(Office of Technology Assessment 1991)

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Biotechnology is paving the
way for environmental
protection...

• Becoming significant part of

the government policies

• To achieved the goals of

sustainable development

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ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY

• A scientific discipline using biological processes to control

or resolve environmental-related issues.

• Remediation of contaminated sites

• Pollution monitoring

• Renewable and eco-friendly energy source generation

• It plays a pivotal role in unfolding the primary structural and

functional link between the environment and its inhabitants.

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REVIEW...

Producers

Biotic
Consumers
Factors

Decomposers

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What are MICROORGANISMS?

• (Microbes) microscopic organisms,

which may exist in single-celled
form or in a colony of cells.

• Can breakdown most compounds for

their growth and energy needs.

• Bacteria

• Fungi

• Viruses
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ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
APPLICATIONS
Treatment of
Industrial effluents
Information obtained from different
Applications of Environmental Solid Waste approaches is being applied widely to
redefine the microbial abilities for
Management
environmental betterment.
Biotechnology

Land restoration

Waste Valorization

Addressing global
warming problem

Alternative energy
sources 12
Common Environmental Issues Being Faced by the
World

Soil contamination

Industrial effluents
Greenhouse gas emission

Air pollution Radioactive waste

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Land degradation
BIOREMEDIATION AS A
TOOL FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL
BIOTECHNOLOGY
BIOREMEDIATION

• A process that uses microorganisms, plants and lower animals or their enzymes
to remediate polluted sites for recovering their original conditions.

• Utilizes some natural characteristics of organisms, including metabolism

activities and extracellular secretions, for environmental remediation.

• COMPLETE BIODEGRATION

• yields detoxification by mineralizing pollutants to CO2, H2O and harmless

organic salt

• INCOMPLETE BIODEGRADATION

• yields products that may or may not be less toxic than the original pollutant
(tri- or tetrachloroethylene to vinyl chloride)

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BIOREMEDIATION: Where did it started?

• 1972 – used for the first time to treat gasoline leakage in

Pennsylvania, USA.

• 1983 – the use of metal-accumulating plants to clean up sites

contaminated with heavy metals

• 1991 – the United States started implementing bioremediation

technology to control hazardous environmental pollutants in
soil, groundwater and marine environments

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CLASSIFICATION OF BIOREMEDIATION

• Microbial Remediation Technology

• Phytoremediation

• Animal remediation (protozoa) - not

widely used

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MICROBIAL
REMEDIATION
TECHNOLOGY
• U til izes the meta b ol ic function of
indig enous microorg a nisms or foreig n
microb ia l communities .

• The p l a y e rs : Me ta b ol iz ing Microb e s

• T h e s i te u s u a lly c o n tain s a v a r i e ty o f m i c r o bes

• T h e m o s t c o m m on a n d e f f e ctive b a c te r ia a r e
th e in d ig e n ou s ( e . g . P s e u d omona s i n s o i l )

• F u n g u s a n d a l g a e a r e a l s o p r e s e n t i n th e
e n v i r onme nt a n d d o a g o o d j o b o f “ c l e a ning
u p ” c h e mic als ( f u n g i do i t b e tte r th a n
b a c te r ia)

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Microbial remediation technology can be grouped
into many types:

• B a s ed on conta mi na nts Could decompose

pesticides and aromatic
compounds
• O rg a nic po lluta nts re m e di ati on

• Ba cte ria: Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Arthrobacter, Acinetobacter, Alcaligenes,

Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium

• F ungi: Trichoderma, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Actinomycetes

• Ino rg a nic po lluta nts re m e diati on

• B a s ed on loca ti on

• In s itu re me diation

• E x s itu re me diati on

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UNIVERSAL NATURE OF
MICROORGANISMS
• Aerobic – requires oxygen for survival

• Anaerobic – do not require oxygen

• Co-metabolism

• metabolic pathways which organisms normally use for growth

and energy supply may also be used to break down pollutant
molecules

• Simultaneous degradation of two compounds

• Use to degrade some complicated organic pollutants, such as

trichloroethylene and polychlorinated biphenyl
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MICROBIAL REMEDIATION
TECHNOLOGY
Microbes remove heavy metals from soils via various
mechanisms:

• Bioaccumulation

• Biosorption

• Bioleaching

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MICROBIAL
REMEDIATION
TECHNOLOGY
• B I OACCU MULATION

• Se ve ral micro o rg anis ms ha ve e vo l ved

to de ve lop de to xi fi cati on m e chani sms
to counte r the toxic e f fects of
ino rg a nic me ta ls.

• M icro be s tra ns l ocate the he a vy m e tal s

ins ide the me m brane thro ug h the l i pi d
bila ye r. Whe n the y re a ch the
intra ce llular s pa ce, the s e he a vy m e tal s
a re a ba ted by the pe ptide lig a nds a nd
pro te ins ( D ie p e t a l . , 2 0 18).

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MICROBIAL
REMEDIATION
TECHNOLOGY
• B I O AB SO RP T I O N

• T h e p r o c e s s o f h e a v y m e ta l i o n b i n d ing
to b a c te r ial c e l l w a l l ( p e p tid og lyca n).

• B I O L E AC H I NG

• M i c r o bial o r e l e a c hin g ( b i o lea ching )

i s th e p r o c e s s o f e x tr a c ting m e ta l s f r o m
o r e s w i th th e u s e o f m i c r oo r ga nisms .

• T h i s m e th o d i s u s e d to r e c o v er m a n y
d i f f er e nt p r e c i ou s m e ta ls l i k e c o p p e r ,
l e a d , z i n c, g o l d , s i l v er , a n d n i c k el.
M i c roorganisms a re u se d b e c a u se th e y
c a n : l owe r th e p rodu ction c osts.

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PHYTOREMEDIATI
ON
• Uses the roots (or stems and
leaves) of plants to absorb, enrich,
degrade and/or immobilize
pollutants from soil and water.

• Currently, phytoremediation
technology is widely applied to
remediate contamination of heavy
metals and radioactive elements.

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Phytoremediation can be grouped into types based on
different goals:

• Organic contaminants

• Phytodegradation or phytoremediation

• Degrade contaminants by metabolic processes

• Plants produce many secondary metabolites (SPMEs): allelopathic

chemicals, roots exudates, phytohormones, Phytosiderophores ,
phytoanticipins)

• Inorganic contaminants

• Based on different uptake mechanisms

• Phytostabilization , phytoevaporation , phytoextraction

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Phytostabilization, phytoevaporation,
phytoextraction

• P H Y T O V O L A TI L I Z A TI O N – d e t r i m e n t a l
m e t a l ( l o id s ) a r e a s s i m i la t e d i n t o v o l a t i l e
organic compounds and converted into less
toxic vapors, which is the released into the
a t m o s p h er e a s b i o m o l e c u le s

• P H Y T O S T A B I L I Z AT I O N – u s e o f p l a n t s t o
d e c r e a s e t h e m o b i l i t y a n d b i o a v a i l a b il i t y o f
h e a v y m e t a l s ; a b i l i t y t o s t a b i l iz e h e a v y
metals

• R e s t r i c t in g h e a v y m e t a l s l e a c h i n g

• I n h i b i t in g t h e s h i f t o f t o x i c m e t a l s t o
other areas

• Preventing direct contact with polluted

area by heavy metals

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Phytostabilization, phytoevaporation,
phytoextraction

• PHYTOEXTRACTION – involves the

clean-up of heavy metals from soil
by means of plant uptake and
accumulation; suitable for those
areas that are polluted at low
moderate level

• Hyperaccumulator species –
kind of plants that could
accumulate 100 -500 times more
heavy metals in their shoots
and tissues

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Enhance Phytoremediation

• Plants of phytoremediation would suffer the risk of toxification

in any cases when they are used to remediate pollutants.

• The toxification of plants decreases the removal efficiency of

phytoremediation directly.

• Adding natural pollutant-degrading bacteria and applying

growth-promoting bacteria are good ways to enhance
phytoremediation efficiency.

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Enhance
Phytoremediation

• RHIZODEGRADATION

• Contaminant degradation
that occurs in the
rhizosphere

• Microbes that live around

the plant roots

• Endophytic bacteria – live

in the plant bodies

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Enhance
Phytoremediation

• RH I Z O F I L T RAT I O N

• R e m e d iation te c h n iqu e f o r w a te r
p o l lu tio n

• I n v o lv es th e u p ta k e o f p o l lu ta nts b y
p l a n t r o o ts e i th e r b y p r e c i pitation o r
a b s o r p tion

• I n v o lv es f i l ter in g g r o u n d w ater ,
s u r f a c e w a te r a n d w a s te w ate r
th r o u g h a m a s s o f r o o ts

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MICROBIAL REMEDIATION AND
PHYTOREMEDIATION: LIMITATIONS

• The efficiency of phytoremediation and microbial remediations depends on:

• Numerous adequate organisms

• Influence factors

• Physioco-chemical properties of the polluted soil

• Bioavailability of pollutants

• Microbial and plant biomass

• Capacity of living organisms to uptake, accumulate, sequester,

translocate and detoxify metals

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TYPES OF BIOREMEDIATION

• Soil bioremediation

• Water bioremediation

• Air and Waste Gases bioremediation

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Soil Bioremediation
• Soil is an extremely complex system with a dynamic and living medium (mineral
particles, organic matter, water, air and living organisms).

• Soil is also micro -ecosystem that has its own self -purification capacity when
subjected to slight pollution.

-Biomass
Anthropogenic activity
reduction
Excessive utilization (long-
-Land degradation
term application of pesticides,
-Rising number of
fertilizers, plastic film, sewage
toxic/carcinogenic
irrigation)
crops in the market

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Soil Bioremediation

High toxicity, persistence,

bioaccumulation

Influence soil properties

and restrain microbial
enzyme activities

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There are two prevailing ways to restore the properties of
contaminated soil:

• Ex situ bioremediation

• is a biological process in which excavated soil is placed in a

lined above-ground treatment area and aerated following
processing to enhance the degradation of organic contaminants
by the indigenous microbial population

• In situ bioremediation

• is the application of bioremediation in the subsurface

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Ex Situ Bioremediation

• Biological organisms typically

choose optimum conditions where
they could operate favorably

• Common ex-situ soil

bioremediation

• Biopiles

• Landfarming

• Bioreactor

• Composting

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Ex Situ Bioremediation

• La ndfa rmi ng

• C o nta minated s o i l i s e xca va ted a nd

s pre a d o ve r la nd

• So il is pe rio dicall y f i l l e d to i m pro ve

a e ra tion

• R e mediatio n due to i ndi g e nous

micro o rg anisms, a s we l l a s che m i cal
a nd phys ica l proce s ses

• Ge ne rally limite d to the s upe rfi cial 1 0 -

3 5 cm o f s o il

• C a n re duce mo ni to ri ng a nd
ma intenance co s ts
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Ex Situ Bioremediation

• Compos ti ng

• C o mbines co nta mi nated s o i l wi th

no nha z ardous o rg a ni c a m e ndants
(e . g. ma nure or a g ricultural
wa s tes)

• B i opi les

• C ombination of la ndf arming a nd

co mpo s ting

• C ontrol phys ical los s es of of

co nta minants

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Ex Situ Bioremediation

• Bioreactors

• Soil and water pumped up from a

contaminated plume and
processed through an engineered
containment system

• Degradation in bioreactors is
generally greater than in situ
because the contained
environment is more controllable
and predictable

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In Situ Bioremediation

• Application of microorganisms
or plants, to enhance and
rehabilitate the properties of
mono- or multi-polluted soil.

• BIOAUGMENTATION

• BIOSTIMULATION

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In Situ Bioremediation

• BIOAUGMENTATION

• is the practice of adding cultured

microorganisms into the
subsurface for the purpose of
biodegrading specific soil and
groundwater contaminants

• BIOSTIMULATION

• involves the modification of the

environment to stimulate existing
bacteria capable of
bioremediation

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In Situ Bioremediation

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Bioremediation in
Manila,
Philippines

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Water Bioremediation

• W a te r i s th e c a r r i e r o f a l l l i v ing th i n g s.

• T h e i n c r e asin g c o n c e ntr ations o f c o n ta minan ts i n c u r r e n t g r o u n d w ate r a n d s u r f a c e w a te r l i k e

v a r i o us o r g a n ic m a tte r , h e a v y m e ta ls, n i tr a tes a n d o th e r c o m p ou nd s r a n g e f r o m n g / L to m g / L
l e v e ls .

-high salt and

Crude oil leakage
alkaline marine
Spill pollution
environment
Frequent navigation
-chronic pollution
Toxic matter
-pneumatorexis
Soluble heavy metals
-bioaccumulation

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Water Bioremediation

• W AST E W AT ER AN D I N D U ST RI AL
E F F L UE NT S

• M i c r o or g anis ms i n s e w a g e tr e a tm e nt
p l a n ts r e m o v e th e m o r e c o m mon
p o l lu ta nts f r o m w a s te w a ter b e f o r e i t
i s d i s c h ar g ed i n to r i v e r s o r th e s e a .

• T h e c o s t f o r tr e a tm en t c a n b e r e du c e d b y
tu r n i ng w a s te s i n to u s e f u l p r o d u c ts

• S u l p hur r e u s e

• A n i ma l f e e d f r o m f u n g al b i o ma ss
( p e n icillin)

• B i o g a s ( a n a er o bic)

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Water Bioremediation

• DRINKING AND PROCESS WATER

• vital for modern urban and industrial

development

• animal wastes and excess fertilizers

result in high levels of nitrates

• biotechnology provided successful

methods that can removed such
compounds from the ground water

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Air and Waste Gas
Bioremediation

• Waste gas treatment based on cheap

compost-filled filters that remove
odors

• BIOSCRUBBER- consists of a gas

scrubber and a biological reactor

• In the biological reactor, the

pollutants that have been
absorbed by the wash water are
biologically degraded. The
purified scrubbing liquid is
circulated to the scrubber, where
it is able to reabsorb pollutants.

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Air and Waste Gas
Bioremediation

• BIOTRICKLING FILTERS

• a combination of a biofilter and

a bio scrubber.

• The pollutant is degraded by

microorganisms immobilized on an
inert matrix and provided with a
aqueous nutrient film through the
device

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 ANIMAL
REMEDIATION
• EARTHWORMS

• Ea r th w o r m b i o ma ss r e p r e s e nts m o r e
th a n 6 0 % o f to ta l a n i mals i n s o i .

• P l a y s a n i r r e p l ace able r o l e i n
r e m e d ia ting p o l lu tio n i n th e s o i l.

• T h e y c a n i n c r e as e th e n u m be r o f h u m ic
a c i d s ( c h e mic al p r o d u ce b y d e c a y ing
p l a n ts) a n d o r g a n i c a c i ds a s th e y
d e g r a d e s o i l o r g a n i c m a tte r .

• M a y p r o m o te i m mo bilize d m e ta ls ,
tr a n s f o rmin g th e m i n to f r e e s ta tu s
f o r a c c u mula tin g b y o r g a n is m
a ds o r b e nts.

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 GENERATION OF
ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
SOURCES
For ages, humans have remained dependent on conventional fossil fuels
to fulfill their energy demands.

But fossil fuels, due to their limited stock, will be exhausted shortly.

THE SEARCH FOR CLEAN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY FUELS WITH

SIMILAR OR IMPROVED ENERGY OUTPUT HAS SHIFTED THE
WORLD’S FOCUS ON ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY...
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BIOFUELS

• Microorganisms have been studied

for their role in the synthesis of
clean fuel.

• The conventional biofuels:

• Bioethanol

• Biodiesel

• Biohydrogen fuels

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DETECTION AND
MONITORING OF
POLLUTANTS
BIOSENSORS Anthrax biosensor

• Biological and electronic

devices – often built onto a
microchip

• Biological component:
enzyme/antibody, colony of a
bacteria, a membrane, neural
receptor or an entire organism

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BIOSENSORS

• Biological component responds

which shall be optically or
electronically detected

• Algal-based biosensors for

herbicides (chlorophyll)

• Microbial biosensors (light

emission)

• Direct plating or selective

media

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IMPORTANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL
BIOTECHNOLOGY
• Focuses on the sustainability of modern human society by digging out
crucial materials from renewable resources and by decreasing
dependence on renewable resources.

• Water and energy issues are critically addressed by environmental

biotechnology by treating poor -quality water sources, thereby eliminating
public health risks while shifting the future fuel utilization trend from
fossil fuels to renewable ones.

• Environmental biotechnology has proved its potential in pollutant

detection, monitoring, remediation, and development of cleaner
technologies.
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END OF
LECTURE.....

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