Environmental Microbiology

DR. ALAM KHAN

PH.D. MICROBIOLOGY
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR DEPARTMENT OF LIFE SCIENCES
POLLUTION OR ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
 pollution, also called environmental pollution, the addition of any substance
(solid, liquid, or gas) or any form of energy (such as heat, sound, or
radioactivity) to the environment at a rate faster than it can be dispersed,
diluted, decomposed, recycled, or stored in some harmless form.
 The major kinds of pollution, usually classified by environment, are air
pollution, water pollution, and land pollution.
 Modern society is also concerned about specific types of pollutants, such as
noise pollution, light pollution, and plastic pollution.
 Pollution of all kinds can have negative effects on the environment and wildlife
and often impacts human health and well-being.
 A pollutant is any substance which concentration is exceeds from a certain limit
and start negatively effecting the environment of heath.
 Excess of everything is bad.
 Each pollutant have its threshold limit depends on its toxicity.
 Pollutants can be natural, such as volcanic ash.
 They can also be created by human activity, such as trash or runoff produced by
factories.
 Pollutants damage the quality of air, water, and land.
 Many things that are useful to people produce pollution.
 Cars spew pollutants from their exhaust pipes.
 Burning coal to create electricity pollutes the air.
 Industries and homes generate garbage and sewage that can pollute the land and
water.
 Pesticides, chemical poisons used to kill weeds and insects,
seep into waterways and harm wildlife.
 Air and water currents carry pollution.
 Ocean currents and migrating fish carry marine pollutants far and wide.
 Winds can pick up radioactive material accidentally released from a nuclear
reactor and scatter it around the world.
 Smoke from a factory in one country drifts into another country.
 According to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, 9 of
the 12 most dangerous and persistent organic chemicals are organochlorine
pesticides.
 AIR POLLUTION
 Air pollution refers to the release of harmful contaminants
(chemicals, toxic gases, particulates, biological molecules,
etc.) into the earth’s atmosphere.
 These contaminants are quite detrimental and in some cases,
pose serious health issues.
 Some causes that contribute to air pollution are:
 Burning fossil fuels
 Mining operations
 Exhaust gases from industries and factories
 The effects of air pollution vary based on the kind of pollutant.
 But generally, the impact of air pollution ranges from:
 Increased risk of respiratory illness and cardiovascular problems
 Increased risk of skin diseases
 May increase the risk of cancer
 Global warming
 Acid rain
 Ozone depletion
 Hazards to wildlife
 Among the other types of pollution, air pollution is theorized to have a
planet-wide implication.
 Scientists have even speculated an apocalypse-like scenario where air
pollution if left unchecked, can bring about an extreme form of global
warming called the runaway greenhouse effect.
 Though this is purely speculative, it is a phenomenon that has already
occurred on Venus.
WATER POLLUTION

 Water pollution is said to occur when toxic pollutants and particulate

matter are introduced into water bodies such as lakes, rivers and seas.
 These contaminants are generally introduced by human activities like
improper sewage treatment and oil spills.
 However, even natural processes such as eutrophication can cause water
pollution.
 Other significant causes of water pollution include:
 Dumping solid wastes in or near water bodies
 Disposing untreated industrial sewage into water bodies
 Human and animal wastes
 Agricultural runoff containing pesticides and fertilisers
 The effects of water pollution are very pronounced in our environment.
 Furthermore, toxic chemicals can bioaccumulate in living beings, and
these chemicals can travel their way up the food chain, ultimately
reaching humans.
 Among the other types of pollution, water pollution has
severe consequences on humans.
 For instance, in 1932, a grave case of water pollution
incapacitated the inhabitants of an entire city in Japan with
neurological diseases and mental illness for many decades.
 However, the immediate cause was not apparent but was
eventually attributed to acute mercury poisoning.
 Methylmercury was dumped into the surrounding bay and
had ultimately bioaccumulated inside the fish.
 The local population then consumed these fish, and this
resulted in the manifestation of ill effects and neurological
diseases.
 Other consequences of water pollution include:
 Disruption of the ecosystem

 Threats to marine life

 Increased risk of water-borne diseases

 Increases toxic chemicals (such as mercury) in

water bodies
 Eutrophication
SOIL OR TERRESTRIAL OR LAND POLLUTION
 Soil pollution, also called soil contamination, refers to the degradation of land
due to the presence of chemicals or other man-made substances in the soil.
 The xenobiotic substances alter the natural composition of soil and affect it
negatively.
 These can drastically impact life directly or indirectly.
 For instance, any toxic chemicals present in the soil will get absorbed by the
plants.
 Since plants are producers in an environment, it gets passed up through the food
chain.
 Compared to the other types of pollution, the effects of soil pollution are a little
more obscured, but their implications are very noticeable.
 Some of the common causes of soil pollution are:
 Improper industrial waste disposal
 Oil Spills
 Acid rain which is caused by air pollution
 Mining activities
 Intensive farming and agrochemicals (like fertilisers and pesticides)
 Industrial accidents
 The effects of soil pollution are numerous.
 Specific wastes, such as radioactive waste become particularly
hazardous when they are not well-contained.
 A well-documented example is a nuclear accident in Chernobyl, which
has left an area of 2,600 km2 uninhabitable for several thousand years.
 Other effects of soil pollution include:
 Loss of soil nutrients, which renders the soil unfit for agriculture
 Impacts the natural flora and fauna residing in the soil
 Degrades vegetation due to the increase of salinity of the soil
 Toxic dust (such as silica dust) can cause respiratory problems or even
lung cancer.
 The pollutants seeps into ground water can effect hum health as drinking
water.
1. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC)
2. Lead
3. Methane
4. Carbon monoxide
5. Particulate matter (PM)
6. Nitrogen oxides
7. Sulfur dioxide
8. Plastic
9. Mercury
10. Bad smells
11. Nitrates
12. Phosphorus
13. Automobiles
14. Uranium
15. Volatile Organic Compounds
16. PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl) This is an organic chlorine compound that was at
one point extensively used as coolant fluids
17. Chemical Fertilizers
18. Over Dumped Landfills
It is defined as
Waste (also known as rubbish, trash, refuse,
garbage, junk) is any unwanted or useless
materials.
OR
Any materials unused and rejected as
worthless or unwanted and “A useless or profile
less activity using or expanding or consuming
thoughtlessly or carefully.”
 here are many waste types defined by modern
systems of waste management, notably including:

 Municipal waste includes household waste,

commercial waste, and demolition waste
 Hazardous waste includes industrial waste
 Biomedical waste includes clinical waste
 Special hazardous waste includes radioactive waste,
explosive waste, and electronic waste (e-waste)
Solid waste Chemical waste
Liquid waste Commercial waste/
Gaseous waste Business waste
Animal by Biomedical waste
product(ABPs) Bulky waste
Biodegradable waste
 It is defined as
“ non liquid, non-soluble materials ranging
from municipal garbage to industrial wastes that
contain complex & sometimes hazardous
substances”

Solid waste also include

 Garbage
 Rubbish
 Demolition products
 Sewage treatment residue
 Dead animals
 Manure and other discarded material.
-- Per capita solid waste out put 0.25-2.5 Kg/day
Agriculture
Fisheries
Household
Commerce and industry
 Broadly there are 3 types of waste
which as follows

1. Household waste as municipal waste

2.Industrial waste as hazardous waste

3.Biomedical waste or hospital waste as

infectious waste
Municipal solid waste consist of---
household waste
construction and demolition debris
sanitation residue
waste from streets
With rising urbanization and change in life
style and food habits ,the amount of
municipal solid waste has been increasing
rapidly and its composition changing.
Industrial and hospital waste is considered
hazardous as they may contain toxic substances
Hazardous waste could be highly toxic to
humans, animals and plants. They are
- corrosive
- highly inflammable or explosive
In the industrial sector the major generators of
hazardous waste are the metal’ chemical’
paper, pesticide, dye and rubber goods
industries.
Direct exposure to chemicals in hazardous waste
such as mercury and cyanide can be fatal
Bio-medical waste means “Any waste which
is generated during the diagnosis, treatment
or immunization of human beings or animals
or in research activities pertaining thereto or
in the production or testing of biological”
-Bio-medical waste rules ,1998
It may includes wastes like sharp waste,
pathological waste, pharmaceutical waste,
genotoxic waste, chemical waste, and
radioactive waste etc.
A:Health hazard
If solid waste are not collected and allowed
to accumulate , they may create unsanitary
conditions.

This may lead to epidemic outbreaks .

Many diseases like cholera. Diarrhea,

dysentery, plague, jaundice, or gastro-
intestinal diseases may spread and cause loss
of human lives.
 In addition improper handling of the solid
wastes ,a health hazard for the workers who
come in direct contact with the waste.
B: Environmental impact
If the solid wastes are not treated properly
decomposition and putrefaction( decay) may
take place .
The organic solid waste during decomposition
may generate obnozious (intolerable odour)
THE 3RS (REDUCE, REUSE,
RECYCLE) TO BE FOLLOWED
FOR WASTE MANAGEMENT.
SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
 Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to
manage waste from its inception to its final disposal.
 This includes the collection,
 transport,
 treatment and
 disposal of waste, together with monitoring and regulation of the waste
management process and waste-related laws, technologies, economic mechanisms.
 Waste can be solid, liquid, or gases and each type has different methods of disposal
and management.
 Waste management deals with all types of waste, including industrial, biological,
household, municipal, organic, biomedical, radioactive wastes.
 In some cases, waste can pose a threat to human health.
 Health issues are associated throughout the entire process of waste management.
Health issues can also arise indirectly or directly: directly through the handling of
solid waste, and indirectly through the consumption of water, soil and food. Waste
is produced byhuman activity, for example, the extraction and processing of raw
materials.
 Waste management is intended to reduce adverse effects of waste on human health,
the environment, planetary resources and aesthetics.
 WASTE HANDLING AND TRANSPORT
 Waste segregation
 This is the separation of wet waste and dry waste.
 The purpose is to recycle dry waste easily and to use wet waste as compost.
 When segregating waste, the amount of waste that gets landfilled reduces
considerably, resulting in lower levels of air and water pollution.
 Importantly, waste segregation should be based on the type of waste and the most
appropriate treatment and disposal.
 This also makes it easier to apply different processes to the waste, like composting,
recycling and incineration.
 It is important to practice waste management and segregation as a community.
 One way to practice waste management is to ensure there is awareness.
 The process of waste segregation should be explained to the community
 Biodegradable waste (waste treatment or waste to energy)
 Non biodegradable waste (only disposed off)
 Reusable waste
 Recyclable waste
 General non biodegradable waste should be landfilled
LANDFILL
 A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage
dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste
materials.
 Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal,
although the systematic burial of the waste with daily, intermediate
and final covers only began in the 1940s.
 In the past, refuse was simply left in piles or thrown into pits; in
archeology this is known as a midden.
 Some landfill sites are used for waste management purposes, such
as temporary storage, consolidation and transfer, or for various
stages of processing waste material, such as sorting, treatment, or
recycling.
 Unless they are stabilized, landfills may undergo severe shaking or
soil liquefaction of the ground during an earthquake.
 Once full, the area over a landfill site may be reclaimed for other
uses.
 Initial adjustment (Phase I)
 As the waste is placed in the landfill, the void spaces contain high
volumes of molecular oxygen (O2). With added and compacted
wastes, the O2 content of the landfill bioreactor strata gradually
decreases. Microbial populations grow, density increases. Aerobic
biodegradation dominates, i.e. the primary electron acceptor is O2.
 Transition (Phase II)
 The O2 is rapidly degraded by the existing microbial populations. The
decreasing O2 leads to less aerobic and more anaerobic conditions in
the layers. The primary electron acceptors during transition are
nitrates and sulphates since O2 is rapidly displaced by CO2 in the
effluent gas.
 .
 Acid formation (Phase III)
 Hydrolysis of the biodegradable fraction of the solid waste begins in the
acid formation phase, which leads to rapid accumulation of volatile fatty
acids (VFAs) in the leachate. The increased organic acid content
decreases the leachate pH from approximately 7.5 to 5.6. During this
phase, the decomposition intermediate compounds like the VFAs
contribute much chemical oxygen demand (COD). Long-chain volatile
organic acids (VOAs) are converted to acetic acid (C2H4O2), CO2, and
hydrogen gas (H2). High concentrations of VFAs increase both
the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and VOA concentrations, which
initiates H2 production by fermentative bacteria, which stimulates the
growth of H2-oxidizing bacteria.
 Methane fermentation (Phase IV)
 The acid formation phase intermediary products (e.g., acetic, propionic,
and butyric acids) are converted to CH4 and CO2 by methanogenic
microorganisms. As VFAs are metabolized by the methanogens, the
landfill water pH returns to neutrality. The leachate's organic strength,
expressed as oxygen demand, decreases at a rapid rate with increases in
CH4 and CO2 gas production. This is the longest decomposition phase
 PROBLEMS
 Leachate
 When precipitation falls on open landfills, water percolates through the garbage and
becomes contaminated with suspended and dissolved material, forming leachate. If
this is not contained it can contaminate groundwater. All modern landfill sites use a
combination of impermeable liners several metres thick, geologically stable sites
and collection systems to contain and capture this leachate. It can then be treated and
evaporated. Once a landfill site is full, it is sealed off to prevent precipitation ingress
and new leachate formation. However, liners must have a lifespan, be it several
hundred years or more. Eventually, any landfill liner could leak,[7] so the ground
around landfills must be tested for leachate to prevent pollutants from contaminating
groundwater.
 Decomposition gases
 Rotting food and other decaying organic waste create decomposition gases,
especially CO2 and CH4 from aerobic and anaerobic decomposition, respectively.
Both processes occur simultaneously in different parts of a landfill. In addition to
available O2, the fraction of gas constituents will vary, depending on the age of
landfill, type of waste, moisture content and other factors. For example, the
maximum amount of landfill gas produced can be illustrated a simplified net
reaction of diethyl oxalate that accounts for these simultaneous reactions:
 On average, about half of the volumetric concentration of landfill gas is CH4 and
slightly less than half is CO2. The gas also contains about 5% molecular nitrogen
(N2), less than 1% hydrogen sulfide (H2S)
 Vectors
 Poorly run landfills may become nuisances
because of vectors such as rats and flies which
can spread infectious diseases. The occurrence of
such vectors can be mitigated through the use
of daily cover.
INCINERATION

 Incineration is a disposal method in which solid organic wastes are

subjected to combustion so as to convert them into residue and gaseous
products. This method is useful for disposal of both municipal solid
waste and solid residue from waste water treatment. This process
reduces the volumes of solid waste by 80 to 95 percent.[34] Incineration
and other high temperature waste treatment systems are sometimes
described as "thermal treatment". Incinerators convert waste materials
into heat, gas, steam, and ash.
 Incineration is carried out both on a small scale by individuals and on a
large scale by industry. It is used to dispose of solid, liquid and gaseous
waste. It is recognized as a practical method of disposing of
certain hazardous waste materials (such as biological medical waste).
Incineration is a controversial method of waste disposal, due to issues
such as emission of gaseous pollutants including substantial quantities
of carbon dioxide.
BIOREMEDIATION

 Bioremediation is a waste management technique that involves the use

of organisms to remove or neutralize pollutants from a contaminated
site.
 According to the United States EPA, bioremediation is a "treatment that
uses naturally occurring organisms to break down hazardous substances
into less toxic or non toxic substances".
 Technologies can be generally classified as in situ or ex situ.
 In situ bioremediation involves treating the contaminated material at the
site,
 while ex situ involves the removal of the contaminated material to be
treated elsewhere.
 Some examples of bioremediation related technologies are biodegration,
bioventing, bioleaching, bioaugmentation and biostimulation.
 Bioventing
 Bioventing is an in situ remediation technology that
uses microorganisms to biodegrade organic
constituents.
 Bioventing enhances the activity of indigenous
bacteria and archaea and stimulates the natural in situ
biodegradation of hydrocarbons by inducing air or
oxygen flow into the unsaturated zone and, if
necessary, by adding nutrients.
 During bioventing, oxygen may be supplied through
direct air injection into residual contamination in soil.
 Bioaccumulation
 Bioaccumulation refers to the accumulation of substances,
such as pesticides, or other chemicals in an organism.
 Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a
possibly toxic - substance at a rate faster than that at which
the substance is lost by catabolism and excretion.
 Thus, the longer the biological half-life of a toxic
substance the greater the risk of chronic poisoning, even if
environmental levels of the toxin are not very high.
 Bioleaching
 Bioleaching is the extraction of metals
condiments from the environment through the use
of living organisms.
 This is much cleaner than the traditional heap
leaching using cyanide
 Bioaugmentation
 Biological augmentation- the addition of archaea or bacterial cultures required to speed
up the rate of degradation of a contaminant.
 In a place filled with contamination, microbial life usually finds it as a place to call
home.
 The biological material that originated in this contaminated area is able to break down
waste, but when the amount of waste overloads it needs help from a foreign form to
increase performance in breaking down chemicals.
 Bioaugmentation develops the biological material in order to smoothly break down
certain compounds.
 When a microbe is added to the contaminated area, they are able to improve the
biological material’s capability to behave in a manner as to break down contamination
that was already broken up before.
 Bioremediation may occur on its own (natural attenuation or intrinsic bioremediation) or
may only effectively occur through the addition of fertilizers, oxygen, etc., that help in
enhancing the growth of the pollution-eating microbes within the medium
(biostimulation).
 Biodegradation
 Microbial biodegradation is the use of bioremediation and
biotransformation methods to harness the naturally occurring
ability of microbial xenobiotic metabolism to degrade,
transform or accumulate environmental pollutants, including
hydrocarbons (e.g. oil), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs),
polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heterocyclic compounds
(such as pyridine or quinoline), pharmaceutical substances,
radionuclides and metals.
 Biological processes play a major role in the removal of
contaminants and take advantage of the catabolic versatility of
microorganisms to degrade or convert such compounds.
BIODEGRADATION
 Biodegradation is the breakdown of organic matter by microorganisms,
such as bacteria and fungi. It is generally assumed to be a natural process,
which differentiates it from composting. Composting is a human-driven
process in which biodegradation occurs under a specific set of
circumstances.

 The process of biodegradation is threefold: first an object undergoes

biodeterioration, which is the mechanical weakening of its structure; then
follows biofragmentation, which is the breakdown of materials by
microorganisms; and finally assimilation, which is the incorporation of
the old material into new cells.

 In practice, almost all chemical compounds and materials are subject to

biodegradation, the key element being time. Things like vegetables may
degrade within days, while glass and some plastics take many millennia
to decompose. A standard for biodegradability used by the European
Union is that greater than 90% of the original material must be converted
into CO2, water and minerals by biological processes within 6 months.
WASTE MANGMENT

 Waste collection
 Characterization

 Treatment process selection

 Treatment
 In an anaerobic system there is an absence of gaseous oxygen.
 In an anaerobic digester, gaseous oxygen is prevented from entering the
system through physical containment in sealed tanks.
 Anaerobes access oxygen from sources other than the surrounding air.
 The oxygen source for these microorganisms can be the organic material
itself or alternatively may be supplied by inorganic oxides from within the
input material.
 When the oxygen source in an anaerobic system is derived from the organic
material itself, then the 'intermediate' end products are
primarily alcohols, aldehydes, and organic acids plus carbon dioxide.
 In the presence of specialised methanogens, the intermediates are converted
to the 'final' end products of methane, carbon dioxide with trace levels
of hydrogen sulfide.
 In an anaerobic system the majority of the chemical energy contained within
the starting material is released by methanogenic bacteria as methane.
 In an aerobic system, such as composting, the microorganisms access
free, gaseous oxygen directly from the surrounding atmosphere.
 The end products of an aerobic process are primarily carbon dioxide and
water which are the stable, oxidised forms of carbon and hydrogen.
 If the biodegradable starting material
contains nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur, then the end products may also
include their oxidised forms- nitrate, phosphate and sulfate.
 In an aerobic system the majority of the energy in the starting material
is released as heat by their oxidisation into carbon dioxide and water.
 Composting systems typically include organisms such as fungi that are
able to break down lignin and celluloses to a greater extent than
anaerobic bacteria.
 Due to this fact it is possible, following anaerobic digestion, to compost
the anaerobic digestate allowing further volume reduction and
stabilisation.
 DISADVANTAGES OF COMPOSTING

 If the composted materials contain waste types such as animal or food waste there is a risk
that diseases (for example “foot and mouth”) may be spread in the compost. In those
circumstances, in many countries (such as the UK and EU) the Animal By-products
regulations must be complied with for all commercial compost sales/ spreading on land.Like
anaerobic digestion, it is necessary to pasteurize the composted material to ensure that all
infectious agents have been effectively removed. Commercial composting companies ensure
that they meet the relevant regulations by applying the PAS 100 code for Quality Compost.
 This can be done by ensuring that it composts rapidly and raises its own temperature, through
the heat produced during composting. The required hot temperature must be held constant for
a stated minimum time period. Ensuring that every batch self-sanitises itself this way requires
very good operating practice. and detailed monitoring to demonstrate successful
pasteurisation to the local environmental regulating body.
 3. This disadvantage is the biggest disadvantage of composting! Composting requires the
input of quite large energy inputs to fuel and operate the equipment needed to aerate and turn
the compost piles.
 By comparison, anaerobic digestion wins hands-down for “greenness” by providing its own
power to do this.
 Composting makes no contribution to reducing the carbon footprints of the businesses that
use the composting process.
 By comparison, AD Plants can assist businesses by reducing their carbon footprint.
 4. Like AD, if run inefficiently, composting can cause an odour nuisance.