Applied Environmental Biotechnology: Present Scenario and Future Trends

Garima KaushikEditor

Applied Environmental Biotechnology: Present Scenario and Future Trends

ISBN 978-81-322-2122-7 ISBN 978-81-322-2123-4 (eBook)DOI 10.1007/978-81-322-2123-4Springer New Delhi Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014958089

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EditorGarima Kaushik Department of Environmental ScienceSchool of Earth scienceCentral University of RajasthanKishangarh, Ajmer, RajasthanIndia

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Preface

Applied environmental biotechnology is the field of environmental science and biology that involves the use of living organisms and their by-products in solving environmental problems like waste and wastewaters. It includes not only the pure biological sciences such as genetics, microbiology, biochemis-try, and chemistry but also subjects from outside the sphere of biology, such as chemical engineering, bioprocess engineering, information technology, and biophysics.

Cleaning up the contamination and dealing rationally with wastes is, of course, in everybody’s best interests. Considering the number of problems in the field of environmental biotechnology and microbiology, the role of bioprocesses and biosystems for environmental cleanup and control based on the utilization of microbes and their products is highlighted in this work. Environmental remediation, pollution control, detection, and monitoring are evaluated considering the achievement as well as the perspectives in the development of environmental biotechnology. Various relevant articles are chosen up to illustrate the main areas of environmental biotechnology: indus-trial waste water treatment, soil treatment, oil remediation, phytoremedia-tion, microbial electroremediation, and development of biofuels dealing with microbial and process engineering aspects. The distinct role of environmen-tal biotechnology in future is emphasized considering the opportunities to contribute new approaches and directions in remediation of a contaminated environment, minimizing waste releases, and developing pollution preven-tion alternatives using the end-of-pipe technology. To take advantage of these opportunities, new strategies are also analyzed and produced. These methods would improve the understanding of existing biological processes in order to increase their efficiency, productivity, flexibility, and repeatability.

The responsible use of biotechnology to get economic, social, and environ-mental benefits is highly attractive since the past, such as fermentation prod-ucts (beer, bread) to modern technologies like genetic engineering, rDNA technology, and recombinant enzymes. All these techniques are facilitating new trends of environment monitoring. The twenty-first century has found microbiology and biotechnology as an emerging area in sustainable environ-mental protection. The requirement of alternative chemicals, feedstocks for fuel, and a variety of commercial products has grown dramatically in the past few decades. To reduce the dependence on foreign exchange, much research

AQ1

vi Preface

has been focussed on environmental biotechnology to develop a sustainable society with our own ways of recovery and reusing the available resources.

An enormous amount of natural and xenobiotic compounds are added to the environment every day. By exploring and employing the untapped potential of microbes and their products, there are possibilities of not only removing toxic compounds from the environment but also the conversion and production of useful end products. Basic methodologies and processes are highlighted in this book which will help in satisfying the expectations of different level of users/readers.

This work focuses on the alarming human and environmental problems created by the modern world, and thus provides some suitable solutions to combat them by applying different forms of environmental studies. With the application of environmental biotechnology, it enhances and optimizes the conditions of existing biological systems to make their course of action much faster and efficient in order to bring about the desired outcome. Various stud-ies (genetics, microbiology, biochemistry, chemistry) are clubbed together to find solutions to environmental problems in all phases of the environment like, air, water, and soil. The 3R philosophy of waste reduction, reuse, and recycling is a universally accepted solution for waste management. As these are end-of-pipe treatments, the best approach is developing the approach of waste prevention through cleaner production. However, even after creation of waste the best solution to deal with is through biological means, and today by applying various interdisciplines we can create various by-products from this waste and utilize them best. Treatment of the various engineering sys-tems presented in this book will show how an engineering formulation of the subject flows naturally from the fundamental principles and theories of chemistry, microbiology, physics, and mathematics and develop a sustainable solution.

The book introduces various environmental applications, such as bioreme-diation, phytoremediation, microbial diversity in conservation and explora-tion, in-silico approach to study the regulatory mechanisms and pathways of industrially important microorganisms, biological phosphorous removal, ameliorative approaches for management of chromium phytotoxicity, sus-tainable production of biofuels from microalgae using a biorefinary approach, bioelectrochemical systems (BES) for microbial electroremediation, and oil spill remediation.

This book has been designed to serve as a comprehensive environmen-tal biotechnology textbook as well as a wide-ranging reference book. The authors thank all those who have contributed significantly in understanding the different aspects of the book and submitted their reviews, and at the same time hope that it will prove of equally high value to advanced undergraduate and graduate students, research scholars, and designers of water, wastewater, and other waste treatment systems. Thanks are also due to Springer for pub-lishing the book.

Kishangarh, Rajasthan, India Garima Kaushik

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Acknowledgments

Foremost, I must acknowledge the invaluable guidance I have received from all my teachers in my academic life. I also thank all my coauthors for their support, without which this book would have been impossible.

I thank my family for having the patience and taking yet another chal-lenge which decreased the amount of time I spent with them. Especially, my daughter Ananya, who took a big part in that sacrifice, and also my husband Dr. Manish, who encouraged me in his particular way and assisted me in completing this project.

Speaking of encouragement, I must mention about my head of department and dean of Earth Sciences School, Central University of Rajasthan, Prof. K. C. Sharma, whose continuous encouragement and trust helped me in a number of ways in achieving endeavors like this.

I also thank my colleagues, Dr. Devesh, Dr. Sharmila, Dr. Ritu, and Dr. Dharampal for their support and invaluable assistance.

No one is a bigger source of inspiration in life than our parents. I have come across success and failures in my academic life but my parents have been a continuous source of encouragement during all ups and downs in my life. I really appreciate my in-laws for always supporting me throughout my career.

It will be unworthy on my part if I do not mention Prof. I. S. Thakur, my Ph.D. supervisor who gave me an opportunity to work, learn, and explore the subject knowledge under his guidance and leadership.

Thank you all for your insights, guidance, and support!

Garima Kaushik

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Contents

1 Bioremediation Technology: A Greener and Sustainable Approach for Restoration of Environmental Pollution ................ 1Shaili Srivastava

2 Bioremediation of Industrial Effluents: Distillery Effluent ......... 19Garima Kaushik

3 In Silico Approach to Study the Regulatory Mechanisms and Pathways of Microorganisms .................................................. 33Arun Vairagi

4 Microbial Diversity: Its Exploration and Need of Conservation . 43Monika Mishra

5 Phytoremediation: A Biotechnological Intervention ..................... 59Dharmendra Singh, Pritesh Vyas, Shweta Sahni and Punesh Sangwan

6 Ameliorative Approaches for Management of Chro-mium Phytotoxicity: Current Promises and Future Directions ... 77Punesh Sangwan, Prabhjot Kaur Gill, Dharmendra Singh and Vinod Kumar

7 Management of Environmental Phosphorus Pollution Using Phytases: Current Challenges and Future Prospects ........ 97Vinod Kumar, Dharmendra Singh, Punesh Sangwan and Prabhjot Kaur Gill

8 Sustainable Production of Biofuels from Microalgae Using a Biorefinary Approach ......................................................... 115Bhaskar Singh, Abhishek Guldhe, Poonam Singh, Anupama Singh, Ismail Rawat and Faizal Bux

9 Oil Spill Cleanup: Role of Environmental Biotechnology ............ 129Sangeeta Chatterjee

10 Bioelectrochemical Systems (BES) for Microbial Electroremediation: An Advanced Wastewater Treatment Technology ..................................................................... 145Gunda Mohanakrishna, Sandipam Srikanth and Deepak Pant

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Contributors

Faizal Bux Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology, Durban Univer-sity of Technology, Durban, South Africa

Sangeeta Chatterjee Centre for Converging Technologies, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India

Prabhjot Kaur Gill Akal School of Biotechnology, Eternal University, Sir-mour, Himachal Pradesh, India

Abhishek Guldhe Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa

Garima Kaushik Department of Environmental Science, School of Earth Sciences, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, India

Vinod Kumar Akal School of Biotechnology, Eternal University, Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, India

Monika Mishra Institute of Management Studies, Ghaziabad, UP, India

Gunda Mohanakrishna Separation & Conversion Technologies, VITO—Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Mol, Belgium

Deepak Pant Separation & Conversion Technologies, VITO—Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Mol, Belgium

Ismail Rawat Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa

Shweta Sahni Division of Life Sciences, S. G. R. R. I. T. S., Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

Punesh Sangwan Department of Biochemistry, C. C. S. Haryana Agricul-tural University, Hisar, Haryana, India

Anupama Singh Department of Applied Sciences and Humanities, National Institute of Foundry and Forge Technology, Ranchi, India

Bhaskar Singh Centre for Environmental Sciences, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, India

Dharmendra Singh Akal School of Biotechnology, Eternal University, Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, India

Poonam Singh Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa

Sandipam Srikanth Separation & Conversion Technologies, VITO—Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Mol, Belgium

Shaili Srivastava Amity School of Earth and Environmental Science, Amity University, Gurgaon, Haryana, India

Arun Vairagi Institute of Management Studies, Ghaziabad, UP, India

Pritesh Vyas Department of Biotechnology and Allied Sciences, Jyoti Vidyapeeth Women University, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

xii Contributors

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About the Editor

Dr. Garima Kaushik is currently working as Assistant Professor in Depart-ment of Environmental Science, School of Earth Science, Central Univer-sity of Rajasthan. A gold medallist in B. Sc. and M.Sc. from University of Rajasthan, she obtained Ph.D. in the field of Environmental Biotechnology, from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has also served as an Environmental Consultant to World Bank funded projects with government of Rajasthan, namely; Health Care Waste Management (HCWM) and Raj-asthan Rural Livelihood Project (RRLP). Her areas of research interest are environmental microbiology, chiefly bioremediation of industrial effluents, biomedical waste management, enzyme kinetics, applications and biopro-cess engineering. Another area of her research includes climate change and rural livelihoods and promotion of environmentally friendly activities in rural areas for adaptation to climate change. She is also pursuing her future research in the area on education for sustainable development.

Dr. Kaushik has published several research papers in the field of bioreme-diation, climate change adaptation in international and national journals and has contributed in organizing various conferences and seminars. She has also participated in various academic events at national and international level and is also the life member of many academic societies.

xv

Abbreviations

µM MicromolarAAS Atomic absorption spectrophotometerABTS 2,2ʹ-azinodi-3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulfuric acidANOVA Analysis of varianceAPHA American Public Health AssociationARDRA Amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysisATP Adenosine triphosphateBHC Benzene hexachlorideBLAST Basic local alignment search toolBOD Biological oxygen demandCBD Convention on Biological DiversityCLPP Community level physiological profilingCOD Chemical oxygen demandCPCB Central Pollution Control BoardCU Color unitDAPI Diamidino-2-phenylindoleDDT Dichloro diphenyl trichloroethaneDEAE cellulose Diethylaminoethyl celluloseDGGE Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresisEEA European Environment AgencyEPA Environmental Protection AgencyFISH Fluorescence in situ hybridizationFT-IR Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopyGC-MS Gas chromatography and mass spectrometryGMOs Genetically modified organismsHRT Hydraulic retention timeIAS In situ air spargingIC Ion chromatographyIR Infra-red bandLMWOA Low molecular weight organic acidsLNAPL Light nonaqueous phase liquidMEGAN MEta Genome AnalyzerMOCB Miniature oil containment boomNADH Nucleotide adenosine dihydrideNCBI National Center for Biotechnology Information

xvi Abbreviations

PAH Poly aromatic hydrocarbonPCB Polychlorinated biphenylPCDD Polychlorinated dibenzodioxinPCDF Polychlorinated dibenzofuranPCP PentachlorophenolPGDB Pathways/Genome DatabasesRF Radio frequencyRFLP Restriction fragment length polymorphismSSCP Single strand conformation polymorphismTCE TrichloroethyleneUNCED United Nations Conference on Environment and DevelopmentUNESCO The United Nations Organization for Education, Science and

CultureUVF Ultraviolet Fluorescence SpectrometryWF Water footprintWFCC World Federation for Culture CollectionWNO World Nature Organization