Microorganisms: 'Senior expert' handles environmental pollution

Ngoc Ha (According to Le Point)

Microbial technology has been the most effective and inexpensive tool to support people in the battle of orange: environmental protection.

Savior of environmental disasters

Disaster in Lavéra : An oil tanker anchored at the wharf to rinse the chamber unintentionally polluted 9,000m ^{2 of} the sea surface in Port of Marseille (France). The incident caused headaches of the city, because it was a heavy oil, difficult to clean with the classic tools. Suddenly, in a standstill, the idea came up: why not microorganisms? And so they went to a specialized factory called Bionergie in the region of Aubagne nearby. This enterprise accepted. After surveying the actual situation of environmental pollution in the port area, experts decided to immediately spray billions of bacteria into oil-contaminated waters. Less than 5 days later, the oil layer disappeared completely, as if it never existed.

Another breathtaking ' feat ' is the treatment of environmental pollution on the Loire river in Saint-Pierre-de-Boeuf . This area somehow understood that there were many green algae, causing river water to become patchy, stinking, so visitors also left. After much debate, exploration, environmental pollution treatment experts have agreed to use biological measures to improve the situation. The job was assigned to Vienne's Codabio factory. First, people embanked dikes to ' isolate ' contaminated water. Then, pouring into an area contaminated with 3 tons of gravel impregnated with very favorite viruses ' eat ' green algae. Three months later, the river water became clear again.

Alcanivorax-borkumensis bacteria naturally produce the ability to eat up oil slicks on the sea. (Photo: static.twoday.net)

France is home to many " glorious " victories of microbial army. On a dark day, the van drove 26m ³ Acrylate éthyle overturned on the track at Metz station. Many thousands of square meters of soil are contaminated to a depth of 7m. How to fix the damage? The classic solution could only be to transfer contaminated soil piles to landfills that are eligible to receive hazardous waste with estimated costs of up to several tens of millions of francs. Then there was a delay in railway operation for several weeks . After a period of calculating and thinking, experts decided to seek help for microorganisms. Upon receiving the mission, IBS Company immediately created a mixture of bacteria capable of decomposing Acrylate éthyle. It is brought to the ground through small boreholes under the tracks to ensure trains continue to circulate. After 8 months the contaminated area was treated cleanly at a cost of only 3.5 million francs. An IBS expert admitted: ' Apart from microbial treatment, there is no other way '.

The resounding victories have demonstrated the ability to destroy most of the microorganisms causing pollution of microorganisms while confirming its important role in the fight against human environmental pollution. Currently, in the UK, USA, France, Germany, the Netherlands . there are hundreds of laboratories from both the state and the private sector trying to research this issue. However, in the United States, it must be after high-level microbiologists' experts show high effectiveness in fighting oil spills and especially harmless nature in Alaska beaches in carpet. In the case of a highly polluting Exxon Valdex tanker, the country's authorities have changed their attitude from skepticism to support. So far, hundreds of polluted locations in the United States have been recovered by fungi and bacteria. Using microorganisms to solve environmental pollution has also found a place in Germany with 31% of polluted locations being treated by this method.

Excellent cleaning ability of microscopic creatures

There are two ways to use microorganisms to treat environmental pollution:

The first way uses microorganisms naturally present in contaminated soil. To do this, people pump oxygen and provide a nutrient mixture to rapidly increase the number of bacteria. The most well-known mixture is Inipol (including phosphates and nitrates) made by Elf-Aquitaine in collaboration with the Paul-Ricard Institute of Oceanography.

The second way , which is more difficult to implement but more effective, is to pump into the contaminated areas of the laboratory virus.

At first, the microbial method was mainly carried out in oil pollution but gradually, the later it expanded into many new areas. For example, in San Francisco (USA), people have succeeded in using bacteria to fight trichloréthylene pollution on the sea surface. In the state of Michigan, a laboratory claimed to have isolated the " digestible " pyralene bacteria of transformers.

Furthermore, the German chemie AG said that it has been able to capture the formula of a mixture of bacteria and fungi that can disintegrate dioxin. The Japanese discovered a fungus that ' sipped ' rubber. Or in the Netherlands, one has found a bacterium capable of removing nitrates in well water. Every day, or so, around the world, a new ' senior expert ' is found to deal with environmental pollution.

All microbial " art " of decontamination lies in the selection of suitable bacteria. That forced some microbiologists to travel around the world to look for new bacteria. In France, Bionergie has acquired nearly 150 layers of useful bacteria for 5 years. Jacques Faudin, the company's general manager, said: ' We are prohibited from making genetic combinations, so in the laboratory, we only make our bacteria 500 times more effective than outside. natural '. Sales of the company have increased by 250%. The contract flew like rain, for example with Kodak, the company undertook to recover silver salts from sewers. As for an aircraft manufacturer, the company has successfully built an enzyme-based detergent produced by bacteria.

Microorganisms can also play a defensive role , France's CEA Nuclear Energy Commission is currently studying fungi with fibers capable of absorbing heavy metals such as cadmium, zinc, nickel, gold silver lead and some radioactive substances. CEA researcher Jean Claude Roux explained: 'Together with Bertin Company, we conducted the first tests to purify water in a zinc mine in Belgium. One kg of powdered mushroom allows us to clean 5m3 of water containing 10mg of zinc / liter '.

However, it should be known that the effectiveness of these microorganisms is not limitless. First of all they cannot do anything for polluting inorganic substances. Next, they could hardly be effective in clay areas. In the end, one has to calculate and watch carefully to prevent the "healing of the pig to be lame pig", the "stick to his back". Patrick Eberentz, who specializes in groundwater pollution by the Office of Geological and Mining Research (BRGM-Germany), said: 'We need to check whether bacteria can degrade contaminants into whether the byproduct is so dangerous or not '. However, these obstacles cannot inhibit the development of microbial technology. It has been an effective and inexpensive tool to support people in the fight against pollution and environmental protection.