Microbial biotransformation and biomineralization of organic-rich waste

Abstract

Purpose of Review: Improper discharge of industrial effluents would lead to direct contamination of our water, air, and soil systems. Without proper treatment, both these inorganic and organic-matter-containing waste would pose harmful effects towards aquatic organisms, overall water quality, reduction in soil health, and increase in greenhouse gasses from anaerobic microbial degradation activities. Recent Findings: Current treatment technologies involve the use of combined chemical, biological, and physical approaches, which has been proven very effective. Another useful alternative is to utilize the high organic content present in the waste as substrate for the metabolism of microbes as catalyst in industrial processes including water treatment as well as production of useful microbial secondary metabolites such as pigments. Summary: This review highlights some example for the microbial biotransformation and biomineralization of organic-rich industrial discharges. This is important based on its potential to be applied as useful alternative techniques to dispose huge volumes of industrial waste as well as reducing high cost of sustaining biological-based industrial processes that would require substantial investment notably for the microbial growth medium. Nevertheless, clear insight into the engineering aspects of such processes and sufficient knowledge on its feasibility to function properly at pilot-scale level are of paramount importance prior to any commercialization attempts.