SHASHWAT GUPTA RAY
shashwat@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: With the country grappling with plastic pollution, depleting petroleum reserves and global warming due to burning of fossil fuel, the CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) has devised a new technology that can deal with the three problems in one go.
It will convert plastics into biodiesel using marine bacteria, which will have low carbon emissions. This would be possible through a novel integrated bioreactor system, designed by Abhay B Fulke, Senior Scientist at the NIO’s Microbiology Division.
The study on the technology’s efficacy has been published in the Elsevier journal ‘Bioresource Technology’.
“This study mainly focuses on biodegradation of various types of plastics and comprises two major parts - plastic remediation using highly efficient indigenous marine bacteria Pseudomonas mendocina ABF786 and conversion of the by-product carbon dioxide (CO2), obtained from bacterial degradation of plastics to microalgal biodiesel. We have also mapped the whole genome of marine bacteria Pseudomonas mendocina ABF786, representing the plastic-degrading enzyme and genes,” Fulke said.
Speaking about the ‘Integrative Reactor’ technology, the senior NIO scientist said, “Novel integrated bioreactor system comprises of two different chambers- in the first chamber bacterial degradation of plastic takes place and the byproduct CO2 that is generated by bacterial degradation of plastic have bypassed to another chamber where microalgal cultivation takes place. This biodiesel has been obtained from microalgal biomass. One of the major nutrients required for the growth of microalgae is CO2. We have supplied CO2 for the growth of microalgae that has been obtained from bacterial degradation of plastics.”
When asked about how much plastic this technology can convert into biodiesel, Fulke said, “So far in our laboratory we have converted around 16.67% to 19.17% of the plastic for microalgal biomass production and for further qualitative biodiesel purposes. However, this value could be increased, if we use a continuous reactor with larger volume.”
“Additionally, we are suggesting a green and sustainable replacement to petroleum-based fuels in the form of microalgal biodiesel. Therefore, this technology not only involves mitigation of plastic hydrocarbons which ultimately pollutes the environment but also supports the use of environment friendly microalgal biofuel. The nutrient required for the growth of microalgal biomass would be supplied by biodegradation of plastics in a continuous way,” he said.