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
