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Antarctic fuel-eating microbes, solution for plastic pollution

  • Posted By
    10Pointer
  • Categories
    Environment
  • Published
    9th Feb, 2022

A team of Argentine scientists is using microorganisms native to Antarctica to clean up pollution from fuels and potentially plastics in the pristine expanses of the white continent.

Context

A team of Argentine scientists is using microorganisms native to Antarctica to clean up pollution from fuels and potentially plastics in the pristine expanses of the white continent.

What is Bioremediation?

  • Bioremediation technologies utilize naturally occurring microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi, and yeast, to degrade hazardous substances into non-toxic or less toxic substances.
  • Simply put, bioremediation tasks involve cleaning soil affected by diesel, using indigenous microorganisms and plants.
  • It is a process that can be used in the austral summer and removes some 60-80% of contaminants.

How microorganism clean the pollution?

  • The tiny microbes munch through the waste, creating a naturally occurring cleaning system for pollution caused by diesel that is used as a source of electricity and heat for research bases in the frozen Antarctic.
    • The continent is protected by a 1961 Madrid Protocol that stipulates it must be kept in a pristine state.

Both fuels and plastics are polymers, molecules made up of long chains\ of mainly carbon and hydrogen.

 Benefits of Bioremediation

  • detoxifies hazardous substances instead of merely transferring contaminants from one environmental medium to another
  • less disruptive to the environment
  • Cost saving

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