Bioremediation through biotechnological interventions has attracted more attention among researchers in field of environmental pollution control and abatement. Various cutting-edge studies in area of protein engineering and synthetic biology offer a new platform for creation of innovative, advanced biological materials for its beneficial role in environmental pollution mitigation. Biocatalysis especially receives considerable attention as sustainable approach to resource recovery from waste along with elimination of pollutants. This paper focuses on updated developments in engineering of biocatalytic substances which can degrade pollutants of emerging concern. It also explains various classes of biocatalysts, their mechanisms of immobilization, and applications in terms of environmental pollutant remediation. Opportunities and challenges for future research have also been discussed.

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Engineering biocatalytic material for the remediation of pollutants: A comprehensive review

A review on the enzymes and metabolites identified by mass spectrometry from bacteria and microalgae involved in the degradation of high molecular weight PAHs.

Biosurfactants can be widely used in industries as pharmaceutical agents, for microbial enhanced oil recovery, crop biostimulation, among others. Surfactin and rhamnolipids are well-known biosurfactants. These compounds have several advantages over chemical surfactants, however they are not economically competitive, since their production cost is up to 12 times higher than chemical surfactants. In this sense, an interesting approach is to replace synthetic culture medium, which represents ≈ 30% of the production cost by agro-industrial wastes. In addition, biosurfactant productivity can be easily enhanced by inductor supplementation into culture medium that triggers biosurfactant metabolism. Biosurfactant inducers are mainly a pool of hydrophobic molecules (e.g. olive oil—saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, proteins and vitamins). Nevertheless, there is little information on inducer effects of specific molecules (e.g. oleic acid). In general, hydrophobic inducers lead to higher fatty acid chain lengths (biosurfactant chemical structure). Therefore, the aim of this review was to critically discuss the current state of the art and future trends on biosurfactant production, in particular biosurfactant inducers. Taking into account the last 10 years, there is a clear lack of information on correlation between “inducers” or “hydrophobic inducers” AND “biosurfactants”, since only 13 documents were found (Scopus database). Thus, it is essential to deeply investigate all inducer effects on biosurfactant production, mainly yield and chemical structure.

Biosurfactant inducers for enhanced production of surfactin and rhamnolipids: an overview

AIMS This study was conducted to evaluate the chemical composition and in vitro gas production (GP) and fermentation parameters of Quercus infectoria and Quercus libani leaves following treatment with the Klebsiella pneumoniae, a tannin-degrading bacterium. METHODS AND RESULTS This isolate was isolated on medium containing tannic acid as the sole source of carbon and energy, and identified based on 16S rRNA sequencing analysis. In both oak leaf species (i.e. Q. infectoria and Q. libani), inoculation with Klebsiella pneumoniae significantly increased (P   0·05) organic matter (OM), neutral detergent fibre, acid detergent fibre or acid detergent lignin content of treated leaves. In both oak leaves the measuring parameters including GP volume, in vitro digestibility of DM and OM, estimated metabolizable energy, total volatile fatty acids, acetate, ammonia nitrogen concentration, total protozoal population and the subfamily Isotricha in treatments were higher (P < 0·05) than control. CONCLUSIONS It can be concluded that biological treatment of Q. infectoria and Q. libani leaves with K. pneumoniae represents a useful approach to decrease their phenolic compound content and improve their nutritive value as ruminant feed. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY This study demonstrated that biologically processing of tannin-containing by-products with K. pneumoniae could increase their nutritive value as ruminant feeds and increase animal productivity.

Nutritive value of treated Quercus infectoria and Quercus libani leaves with the tannin-degrading bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae for ruminant feeding in vitro

Microbial remediation of high molecular weight PAHs from environment: An overview

Induced biosurfactant production and degradation of lindane by soil basidiomycetes yeast, rhodotorula sp. VITJzN03

Recovery of cerium (III) from electronic industry effluent using novel biohydrogel: Batch and column studies

Although single-basin solar distillation (SD) has been extensively studied for desalination, and it has been recently explored for enhancing the rate of desalination by integrating it with other technologies. The current work focuses on developing an integrated technology consisting of flocculation and solar distillation as a cost and energy-effective alternative to existing technologies for seawater desalination. Experimental studies were carried out using a solar distillation set-up (SD), Floc-SD set-up and membrane distillation-SD (MD-SD) set-up at varying parameters, namely radiation, distillate volume, temperature variation, total dissolved solids removal (%), variation in pH and global efficiency (%) for a month duration. Results suggested a higher change in latent heat of vapourization in case of Floc-SD and MD-SD which enhanced the process efficiency. This was also in accordance with the temperature values obtained at the water/vapour interphase. A higher variation in pH was noted in case SD set-up, whereas the variation was less in case of Floc-SD set-up which was attributed to the maintenance of dissolved oxygen in the latter case. Based on the results, it could be inferred as that Floc-SD was as effective as MD-SD in terms of desalination and allied pollutant remediation.

Nilanjana Mitra

Papers

Microbial remediation of high molecular weight PAHs from environment: An overview

Induced biosurfactant production and degradation of lindane by soil basidiomycetes yeast, rhodotorula sp. VITJzN03

Recovery of cerium (III) from electronic industry effluent using novel biohydrogel: Batch and column studies

Flocculation–Solar Distillation—an Integrated Energy-Efficient Technology for Desalination of Seawater